The Nicest Know-It-All

Gregory Tattle was a pretty special kid. He was great at math, read tons of books and he knew so much random information that it could make your head spin. He was pretty good at picking the right news to tell to the right people, too. If you were feeling kind of sad, Gregory could think of a brand-new joke that would make you smile and maybe even laugh right out loud. If you didn’t know what to do, or if you were having a tough time making a big decision, Gregory was the guy to ask because he always seemed to have an answer, even if it was completely silly or a little impossible. So, Gregory became pretty well known around the school as the nicest know-it-all that the fourth grade had ever seen.

Gregory loved to learn all kinds of things, and one of the places he learned the very most from was the radio that he listened to right before he went to school every morning. While he was munching down on his breakfast cereal (usually a mix between Rice Krispies and Cap’t Crunch), he turned up the radio in the kitchen and listened very carefully to whatever the voices were saying. Sometimes Gregory learned about what was happening in one of the popular TV shows, other times he heard about new stores that were going to open or new movies, and every once in a while he listened to the news.

This was one of those mornings. Gregory, running a little bit early for breakfast, flicked on the radio at exactly 7:02, just as the news reporters started talking about the weather. “Wow, Jim it sure is going to be hot-hot-hot out there today!” “You bet, Sue! You could roast an egg on the sidewalk on one of these days! Hey, a word of advice to all of you listening out there this morning, don’t forget to bring a water bottle wherever you go today! You’re going to need it!”

With that, Gregory stuffed the last bite of cereal into his mouth, swallowed up the left over milk, gave his mom a hug good-bye and grabbed his water bottle, heading out the door to school.

Every year, Mrs. Mallow’s fourth grade class goes on a field trip to the farm in the next town. They usually go in the middle of their animal unit, but this year it had rained the entire week, so their trip was postponed almost a month. Now, even though they were already studying the Solar System, it was finally time for their field trip to the farm. The entire class was super excited for the trip, and Gregory was no exception. He loved travelling anywhere on a bus, which might seem a little silly except that he lived really close to the school and never got to ride on one except for field trips. He spent the entire night before reading about horses and goats and cows and chickens so that he could answer anybody’s questions when they finally got to the farm.

Right after "Oh Canada", Gregory and his class lined up at the class room door. They all boarded the bus together and settled into a round of “the wheels on the bus go round and round” that seemed to last the entire 45 minute trip.

The farm was really big, and there were so many animals to see that as soon as the bus pulled up to the big barn, the kids jumped out and started going everywhere. Some of them ran over to the horses right away, some went to the pigs, some went to the sheep and Gregory went to the pond in the back to see the two huge white swans. “Be back here in an hour!” shouted Mrs. Mallow as everyone scattered. Then she went into the barn to meet up with the farmer and probably find a drink of lemonade. It was REALLY hot! Gregory had already finished his water bottle on the ride over, so when he got down to the pond he did the most sensible thing he could think of, and filled it up right out of the pond. Gregory wandered around for a while and had a look at the horses and goats, but eventually he ended up back at the pond with the swans. I could stay here forever, Gregory thought. Then he lied down on the soft grass... and fell asleep!

Gregory woke up two hours later. It was still really hot. He jumped up and ran out to the bus. Well, he ran out to where the bus should have been. The bus was gone. His friends were gone. His teacher was gone. Even the farmer was gone! They had left without him.

Gregory walked back to the pond and filled his water bottle right to the very top and then drank the whole thing. It was really hot! Then he filled it up again and started to walk down the long dirt road back towards his home. He walked for a long time in the heat, walking quickly in the sunny places and a little slower in the shady ones, trying to get home. He walked and walked and walked. An hour later, his water was gone. An hour after that, he was just about ready to dry up he was so thirsty, and an hour after that he felt like he was going to shrivel up like a raisin die! He was just about to give up hope when he caught sight of a billboard: Fresh blueberries, 1 kilometre. Gregory was overjoyed! Suddenly he felt like he had a bit of his energy back. He stood up straight and ran all the way to the blueberry stand.

The girl at the booth was counting up a jar of quarters when he got there. “Hey!” He tried to shout but because he was so thirsty and his mouth was so dry, it came out more like a whisper. “Do you have any water?” The girl looked up from her money. “Yes, of course! Here!” She handed him her own ice-cold water bottle. “And, do you think you might be able to spare a few blueberries? I’m starving!” The girl stared at Gregory sadly. “Hey, I wish I could, but I just sold my last box and I already picked almost all of the ripe berries. I’m just counting up my earnings so I can take it home to my Mom. She’s kind of sick, and we only started this stand so we could get a little money so we can take her to the hospital and get the right medicine. I need the berries that are left for tomorrow, so we can earn enough. So, I wish I could help you, but I’m really stuck.”

Gregory smiled at the girl. The girl looked confused. “Go and take the money to your parents, but first, get me a small handful of berries and then pick the ones you need for the morning. I heard on the radio that it is going to stay super hot for the next few weeks, and I know that blueberries get ripe really, really quickly when it’s super, super hot. They happen to get a lot bigger too. Not only that, but it’s the long weekend and the radio said there was going to be a huge number of tourists up this weekend, so your stand should do really well. So, don’t worry! Between the costumers and the heat, you will definitely have enough until it rains again!”

The little girl gave Gregory a funny look, turned around and gathered the berries. She gave a handful to Gregory and put the rest of them in a little plastic basket. Then they walked to the girl’s house so that Gregory could call his mom... and his school. Twenty minutes later, Gregory’s Dad was on his way to pick him up from the blueberry stand. Gregory and Alicia, the little girl, walked back together. Alicia went to collect a few more berries for Gregory and herself to eat while they were waiting, and after a few minutes, she came running back.

“Gregory, I can’t believe it!” She half shouted, half sang. “It’s the berries! They’re already more ripe, and look at how many are ready to eat right now! Dozens and dozens! Here, come and see!”
Sure enough, Gregory had been right about the blueberries. There were more bushes than he has even imagined, and there were large, blue berries hanging off of every one. “There are even more little ones, just beginning to grow, too! Look!” They picked and ate berries until they heard Gregory’s dad honking the horn. Then they took what they had picked back to Gregory’s car.

Alicia opened her stand again every day for a week, and the berries kept growing in the heat until the day it rained, just like Gregory had said. Her family did get the right medicine for Alicia's mom and she got much, much better. In fact, every year since all of this happened Alicia and her mom run that road-side blueberry stand together for three weeks. And as for Gregory's class and his teacher? Well, let’s just say that now they make sure to count every person twice before they leave to go anywhere on a bus!