I Reported My Own Family

Chapter 4

A few days before Halloween, my security alerts started coming in more often.

Several times after dark, my sister slipped down from the balcony into the garden. She nearly tripped over the warning sign I had put on the ground.

She shone her phone light down and read the words clearly: "Important Agricultural Research Plot, No Picking, No Damage, No Touching. Violations Will Be Reported."

She kicked the sign hard. Then she went straight toward the new pumpkin, the one turning bright golden as it ripened.

She soon found it was ringed all around with a spiked barrier I had put up. There was no easy way through.

She lingered for days, but never found a chance to get to it.

Halloween arrived, the very day I had planned to harvest the pumpkin with my supervisor. I kept a close watch on the cameras all day, ready for anything.

But my phone stayed quiet. Not a single alert came through. Something felt very wrong.

I met the senior researcher who was coming to help lift the pumpkin and take her home. The moment I stepped inside, a rich, sweet pumpkin scent filled the air.

My sister bounced toward me, dressed in a Halloween costume, grinning.

"Trick or treat!"

I looked past her to the dining table. My blood ran cold. Golden dishes covered the table; pumpkin pie, creamy pumpkin soup, pumpkin custard tarts. Right in the center sat a huge pumpkin carved into a skull.

Its jagged mouth was empty.

"Surprise!" she beamed, looking as innocent as could be. "I had to thank you for the pumpkin! It made the house feel so festive!"

I was shaking. "I told you, stay out of my garden!"

Mom stepped out holding a cooking spoon, frowning. "Veda, why are you so ungrateful? She did this to make things nice for everyone!"

I ran to the balcony and looked down. The spot where the pumpkin grew was empty. The protective barrier had been cut open and tossed aside.

Dad stood there holding a pair of heavy-duty cutters, sounding annoyed. "Why did you have to go and fence it all up like that? It took me ages to get through."

My head spun. I pulled up the camera feed on my phone, nothing but static. That explained the silence.

"You destroyed my cameras? You took it without asking, you stole it!"

Lyndon was fastening a necklace around Ann's neck and spoke calmly, "You're so suspicious of everyone. Most people aren't out to hurt you, you know."

Mom stroked Ann's hair warmly. "That's why I asked Lyndon to remove them. We don't want people in the neighborhood thinking we're untrustworthy and paranoid."

I stared at the necklace around Ann's neck, clinging to one last hope. "Where are the seeds?"

She held the necklace up for me to see. "Look, I made it into a necklace! One of a kind. Isn't it brilliant?"

Every precious seed, the ones meant for breeding, had been picked out, polished, and strung together. Seeds left over were scattered across the table and dropped into the trash, completely ruined.

Lyndon wiped a smudge from her chin, looking at her with pure fondness.

"She's so clever. Took something plain and turned it into something wonderful for the holiday. So much better than just growing it in the dirt."

Mom and Dad nodded, proud. "That's what studying finance teaches you, making something valuable out of nothing. Far smarter than just tending plants all day."

I saw a new photo sitting on the table. It showed Ann cutting the stem herself, smiling brightly at the camera.

The senior researcher stepped forward, seeing how pale I was.

"Are you all right?"

Everyone was glowing with their own success. No one looked at me. No one saw, that pumpkin was everything I had nurtured for a whole year; irreplaceable core breeding material with no backup.

My heart felt completely broken. I set down the photo of my sister I had been holding and dialed.

"Hello. I'm reporting on the deliberate destruction of key agricultural research, a nationally listed breeding project. Evidence is here on site. Please send someone immediately."