When Madison saw the face painting, she said “Mommy! Mommy! I want to get a flower painted on my face.”
“OK” said her mom “I think that would look neat.”
So Madison went over to the face painter and said “I would like a very special flower for my face.”
“Right” said the man “This will be a really special flower.” Then he spent a long time drawing a flower on Madison’s face, even though it was just a little flower when he was done
“Thank You” said Madison “It is a very nice flower but it is kind of small. It is not nearly as fancy as the other kid’s flowers. Are you sure that it is a really special flower?”
“Absolutely” said the man “I worked really hard on it and it is small, but very, very special.”
The next morning, Madison’s flower had put a green stem across her nose to the other side of her face, and grown another flower there, just like the one she had started with.
“MOMMY, DADDY!!” Yelled Madison “My flower is growing.” “I think it was that way already” said Madison’s father “You just think it is growing.”
“OK” said Madison “Look really carefully at my face and write down what you see.”
Madison’s dad looked very carefully at her face and wrote down ‘One flower on each cheek with green stem in between’.
The next morning Madison woke up and there was another green stem going right up the front of her nose to another flower growing on her forehead.
“MOMMY, DADDY!!” Yelled Madison “It grew again.”
Madison’s mom looked at her face and said “I think it was that way already.” “No!” said Madison’s daddy “She only had two flowers yesterday. I looked really carefully and I even wrote a note about how many flowers there were.”
“Well” said Madison’s mom, “Let’s take a picture of her face, and then we will really know if it changes.”
So they took a picture of Madison’s face and put it up on the refrigerator with all the other pictures.
The next morning Madison’s face looked mostly the same, except there was a green stem going from each cheek, around her ear and under her shirt. The Mummy and Daddy lifted up Madison’s shirt and there were 10 flowers on a long green stem going down each side of her back.
“Totally Weird!” Said Madison’s Mommy “I think it is time to go and see a doctor.”
So Madison’s Daddy called up the doctor and doctor said to come and see him tomorrow.
“Well” said Madison “I bet that tonight the flowers will grow all the way down to my toes. That would be really, really neat.”
“No it would not” said her dad “I do not like my kid turning into a garden.”
The next morning Madison’s back was the same, but there was a leaf, a small perfect green leaf growing out of each of her ears.
“AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” yelled the mom “My kid is turning into a plant. Her brain is turning into a salad.”
They all ran off to see the doctor.
The doctor was no help. She said “I know a lot about people, but I do not know a lot about plants. Maybe you should take Madison to a garden store and spray her with weed killer!”
“Wait” said Madison “I do not want to be sprayed with weed killer. Let’s go and talk to the face painter. After all, it is his flower that is doing all the growing.”
“Good Idea!” said the Mommy and Daddy.
On the way to see the face painter, a large yellow rose started to grow out of the top of Madison’s head and she had trouble getting out of the back seat of the car because she was growing roots.
“Wonderful!” Said the face painter when he saw her “I did not know that my flower was going to be that special.”
Madison had liked the whole flower thing until she started to grow roots, now she wanted the flower to stop growing. She said “Thank you for my wonderful, very special flower, but what am I supposed to do now? I do not want to grow up to be a flower. I want to be a person.”
“Right” said the face painter “This never happened before, but I think you should try going to bed with a flowerpot.”
“That is better than weed poison” said Madison, and that night she went to bed with a flowerpot.
The next morning, Madison had just one flower left on her face, and there was an enormous flower in the flowerpot. “This is better” said Madison “I like flowers in a flowerpot. I am going to take it to school and show my teacher.”
At school, Madison’s teacher said “What a lovely flower” and she bent down to smell it. Unfortunately, the flower jumped on the teachers face and grew all over her. The teacher even had flowers coming out her ears and nose.
“Oh Dear!” said Madison “I am in trouble now!”; but she was not. The teacher said “I love looking like a garden!” In fact, for the rest of her life, no matter what happened; Madison always came out smelling like a rose.
ALTERNATE ENDING
The next morning, Madison had just one flower left on her face, and there was an enormous flower in the flowerpot. “This is better” said Madison “I like flowers in a flowerpot.”
I don’t want that flower around here!” said Madison’s mom. “It might decide to jump on me and grow out of my mouth or nose or ear.”
“No Problem!” said Madison “My teacher likes flowers. I’ll give it to her!”
(The last page has no text and shows the teacher all covered with flowers.)
WHICH ENDING DO YOU LIKE BEST?
© 2005 - Bob Munsch Ent. Ltd.