Fred

this is a sad story about Fred the Asparagus Person.


Fred the Asparagus Person walked casually down the road towards home. The bullies had been very mean to him that day. They had called him “underwear head”, “flush mouth” and “Jared.” The last one hit Fred hard, like a punch to the gut. Although the word “Jared” didn’t really mean anything in particular, it was generally considered an insult.
Fred was always insulted for his large height, massive girth and his large leaf afro. Asparagus children mostly insulted Fred for his leaf afro, because it was very strange compared to the standard tuft of leaf strands. Fred hated his leaf afro. He couldn’t get it removed, because it was attached to a bunch of weird things coming out of his scalp.
Fred’s parents were way larger than Fred. In fact they were probably more than 10 times bigger than Fred. The asparagus people were scared of Fred’s parents. This was one of the many reasons why Fred wanted to grow up. He had dreams of crushing all of the people he hated with his large, tentacle-like legs. These dreams were one of the few highlights of Fred’s sad life.
One day, as Fred was eating soup, he heard a whisper. Fred looked down at his soup. There was a little man sitting on a noodle. Fred asked the man what he was doing, and the man cleared his throat. He proceeded to explain to Fred the reason for the large leaf afro and all of Fred’s imperfections.
Fred stared down at his soup. He wasn’t hungry anymore. He excused himself from the table and slowly trudged upstairs. That night, Fred lay in his bed staring at the ceiling for five hours without moving. He hated his everybody and everything. He wasn't an asparagus person. He never would be. He hated his parents for not telling him, but at the same time, he hated the little man in his soup.
The next day at school, Fred walked by all of the asparagus people, ignoring their hateful comments and insults. He sat at the back of the room, away from anything that could interact with him. He just wanted to get away from everybody. He just wanted to it to end.
On his way home, he passed a bridge. It was a very narrow bridge, but when Fred looked over, it looked about 30 stories into the water below. Fred looked around. There was nobody around him. The bridge was totally deserted. He took a deep breath, and looked down into the water again.
Fred slowly put his foot onto the first beam on the rail, his hands trembling. He took another deep breath, and looked down at the water again. He took a step onto the second beam on the rail. He took one last deep breath, spat on the ground, and vaulted over the rail. He plunged down toward the water, not a sound coming out of his mouth. Before he hit the water, he smiled a small, sly smile. He hit the water with a smack, and sunk down into the murky depths.
When Fred didn't come home that night, his parents started to get worried. They called the police, but the line was busy. The parents knew better. Nobody liked their kind, including the police. Fred's father decided to go out in search for Fred. He said goodbye to his wife, and set out into the cool, damp night to search for Fred.
As the father was driving around the town looking for Fred, he spotted a crowd of people huddling around something. The father got out of the car, and walked to the group of people. Someone in the crowd noticed the father, and quickly walked away. As the father got closer, people starting clearing the way, trying to get away from him. As people left, the father noticed that they were all looking over a bridge. The father ran over to the side rail and looked down. There, floating in the water, was the silhouette of a small tree.