Grandad started walking back to the shed. His back to him.

“All right … all right, mate,” the man conceded. “I’m sure we could sort out a couple of quid…”

Grandad smiled, winked at Marty before turning around.

“Especially if you give our readers some of your secrets…” The man was scratching his head by now. “Tell me, how did you get it to grow so big?”

“Ah,” Grandad said, “those are very big secrets…”

The man looked genuinely intrigued.

“You see, our readers, they like to get the inside info … the truth…”

“Well,” said Grandad, “if the price is right, we can always talk truths…”

Marty was still shelling peas as Gracie appeared beside him.

“What’s happening?” she asked.

“I’m watching a master at work,” Marty whispered back.

“Please, step into my office…,” said Grandad, gesturing to the shed. Then he winked at Marty and Gracie again and followed the man inside.

Marty strained to listen at the half-open window around the back of the shed.

“What’s he doing?” Gracie whispered.

“I reckon he’s turning a situation to his advantage.”

Marty pressed his ear up against the glass, and sure enough, Grandad was telling Gavin Reading that the pumpkin was actually a wishing pumpkin. That grew on people’s dreams. Marty could see the smudgy outline of the man scribbling furiously. He could tell that the journalist was as captivated as Miss James had been at school.

By the time they left the shed, the man had promised to pay Grandad a hundred pounds for the story and took a photo of Grandad, Marty, and Gracie grinning by the giant pumpkin.

“Thanks for that…,” the man said, feeling like he’d gotten the scoop of the century.

“That’s okay…” Grandad grinned.

“By the way,” he said, putting the pencil back behind his ear, “what are you going to do with it when it’s stopped growing? Pie? Soup?”

“Ah!” Grandad exclaimed, walking toward him and placing his arm around his shoulders. “I thought you’d never ask…”

The man looked twitchy now as Grandad walked him toward the allotment gate.

“We have something splendid planned. Something stupendous. Something that will blow your mind!”

You could almost see the man quivering with excitement at the promise of a promotion from his boss.

“You come back here on the second of September, and I promise you a story that will wake up the whole world!”

He was nodding. Entranced by Grandad’s words.

“I will…”

“And we won’t talk to anyone else. They’ll be fighting for the story, but you, my man, will be the one we’ll talk to…”

“Okay…”

“And remember to bring your camera!”

“I will!”

He almost fell out through the gate as he was still watching Grandad’s face, like a little bird hypnotized by a worm in the beak of its daddy bird.

“Take care, now!”

He nodded, and off he went.

TWENTY-TWO

“LOOK AT THIS!”