Trouble Came Calling

Give the boy credit for industriousness. He acquired the plant, nurtured it, harvested the bounty and distributed the product at school.

Then trouble came calling.

The vice principal.

And no. The boy wasn’t nurturing that kind of bounty.

Let’s back up. The boy is my great-nephew. He’s a freshman at a Kansas high school.

Over the summer, at a farmers market, he got a pepper plant – a Carolina Reaper, the second hottest pepper ever developed.

Nephew’s plant produced loads of peppers, enough to inspire an idea. He would package peppers in single-serving baggies and distribute them at school.

Soon, other kids were testing themselves against the Reaper. It’s a kid thing and especially, speaking as a former boy myself, a boy thing: who can throw or kick the hardest, yell the loudest, pee the farthest?

Eat a Reaper with the fewest tears.

“Last week (Nephew) did mention how other students were calling him a dealer,” his mom reported, “and today the vice principal told me they’ve been trying to figure out who the supplier was.”

The Reaper dealer has retired.