Tomatoes

When Maria was about 10 years old, she and her family had two dogs named Chipper and Frisky. These were outdoor dogs and not allowed inside the house. The dogs each had their own area outside and each had their own dog house.

Maria and her brothers and sisters would feed and water the dogs everyday. They fed the dogs table scraps along with their dog food. One summer, the family ate a lot of tomatoes and a few tomato scraps made it into Frisky's food dish.

Now do not worry, Frisky never became ill and it was not common knowledge at the time that tomatoes were bad for dogs. Anyway, back to the story -

Summer came and went, as did fall and winter. As the snow thawed and melted away, Frisky's area and dog house looked just as it always had. As May came around, some plants began to grow around the edge of Frisky's dog run. By June, there were big juicy tomatoes ripening on the vines of the plants.

Now I know you're questioning if the family ate the tomatoes. I would be lying if I said they did not. I am pretty sure though that Maria's mother refrained from telling the family whether she was using "home grown" (Frisky grown) or "store bought" tomatoes in the salad each day.