Ava's Mystery Seed

Ava was digging in the dirt behind her grandmother's garden shed when her fingers bumped against something small and hard.

She brushed away the soil and found a strange seed, bigger than a sunflower seed but rounder, with dark stripes running along its smooth surface.

It didn't look like any seed she'd seen before in her grandmother's neat rows of vegetables.

She ran to the kitchen window where Grandma was washing dishes.

"What kind of seed is this?" Ava asked, holding up her discovery.

Grandma dried her hands on her apron and examined the mysterious seed carefully.

"Well, I'm not quite sure, dear," she said with a gentle smile.

"Sometimes the best way to find out what something is, is to give it a chance to show you."

That afternoon, Ava chose a sunny spot near the garden fence and dug a small hole.

She placed the seed gently in the earth and covered it with soft soil, patting it down like tucking a baby into bed.

Then she fetched the small watering can with the daisy pattern and gave her planted mystery a gentle drink.

Every morning, Ava checked her special spot.

For three days, nothing happened except that the soil stayed damp and dark.

On the fourth day, she noticed a tiny green bump pushing through the earth.

"Grandma, come see!" she called excitedly.

"Something's happening!" The little sprout was no bigger than her fingernail, but it was definitely alive and growing.

As the days passed, Ava watched her plant grow taller and stronger.

First came two small leaves, then four, then six.

The stem grew thick and sturdy, reaching up toward the sun like it was stretching after a long nap.

Ava watered it every day and talked to it about her adventures, wondering what surprise was waiting inside those green leaves.

After two weeks, something amazing began to happen.

At the very top of the plant, a tight green bud appeared.

Each day it grew bigger and rounder, and Ava could hardly contain her excitement.

"What do you think it's going to be?" she asked Grandma as they stood admiring the mysterious plant together.

One sunny morning, Ava ran outside to find that the bud had opened into the most magnificent sunflower she had ever seen.

Its petals were bright golden yellow, arranged in a perfect circle around a dark center filled with hundreds of tiny seeds.

The flower was so tall that Ava had to tip her head back to see all of it, and it seemed to smile down at her like a friendly giant.

"A sunflower!" Ava laughed, spinning around in delight.

"My mystery seed was a sunflower all along!" She realized that by being patient and caring for something unknown, she had discovered not just what type of plant it was, but also how wonderful it felt to watch something grow from tiny seed to magnificent flower.

Grandma put her arm around Ava's shoulders as they admired the towering sunflower together.

"You know what the best part is?" Grandma said.

"By the end of summer, your sunflower will be full of new mystery seeds, ready for next year's adventures." Ava grinned, already imagining all the sunflowers she could grow, and all the friends and neighbors who might like to discover their own mystery seeds too.