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Chapter 8 How To Convince Father l The day finally arrived when Alexander declared some corn was ready. Louise marveled at the plants. The long rows stood higher than her head. Alexander had saved almost all of his seed the year before and planted it. He declared that this year there was enough to eat. He planned to save half of what they harvested for seed, and, of that, he would dispense half to the people he visited around the countryside. He showed her how Gareg had told him to check to see if it was ready. He peeled back a bit of covering to check if it was yellow. Alexander could not remember what Gareg called the part that held the food. He said he thought he had called them something on the body, like “finger”, or something. She thought they did indeed look like big fat fingers. Since Alexander couldn’t remember, he just called them ‘corn pods’. He said they kind of looked like the pods the peas grew in, only bigger. When Alexander triumphantly carried some corn pods to the kitchen, the cook, though used to his new foods, was suspicious, as always. Alexander said that the year before, they waited until it was really dry, and then they boiled and ate it. He said it was edible, but not that good. Gareg told him he needed to pick it just after it got yellow and eat right off the thing Alexander called the ‘corn stick’. 90