🎒Cal and the Zucchini Caper🎒
by the Natioinal Day Calendar Team
It was a warm August morning, and Cal could hardly sit still in his seat.
“Today’s the day!” he whispered to his best friend, Harper. “Operation Zucchini is a GO.”
Harper giggled behind her hand. “I brought three from our garden. They’re HUGE!”
Mrs. Maple, their cheerful and slightly zucchini-obsessed teacher, had been talking all week about Sneak Some Zucchini Onto Your Neighbor’s Porch Day. “It’s a fun way to share the extra veggies from your garden,” she explained. “Sometimes zucchinis grow faster than we can eat them!”
The class had laughed at pictures of porch steps piled high with zucchini, and Cal had an idea.
“Let’s sneak zucchini into Mrs. Maple’s car!” he had said. “She’s always giving us surprise treats… now it’s our turn!”
So after lunch, the mission began.
Each student had brought a zucchini—some were short and stubby, others long and twisty. The class quietly met behind the cafeteria, holding their green veggies like secret agents.
“Okay,” whispered Cal, slipping on a pair of sunglasses for dramatic effect. “Harper, you and Eli are on lookout. Mia and I will distract the janitor if he walks by. Everyone else—get to the car!”
Mrs. Maple’s little red hatchback sat under the shady tree in the teacher lot. One by one, the kids tiptoed across the grass, gently placing zucchini in the front seat, on the dashboard, in the cup holders—even inside her sunglasses case!
When the final zucchini had been tucked lovingly into the driver’s seat, Cal gave a thumbs-up. “Mission complete.”
After school, the class watched from the window as Mrs. Maple walked to her car.
She opened the door.
She stared.
She laughed.
She held up a zucchini like a trophy. “WHO DID THIS?” she called out to the empty parking lot.
The kids burst out the school doors, cheering.
“Surprise!” they yelled.
“Happy Zucchini Day!”
“Operation Zucchini was a success!”
Mrs. Maple wiped away a happy tear. “This is the best zucchini surprise ever,” she said. “But just wait until tomorrow… I make a mean zucchini bread.”
The next day, the class enjoyed warm slices of chocolate chip zucchini bread while Cal proudly wrote on the board:
Mission Zucchini: SUCCESS.