My hands suddenly tightened around the can of diced tomatoes I had just picked off the shelf.

“Oh, hi Matthew.” I looked at the tall boy standing next to me, then down the aisle to see how far my mother was.

“So, Debbie, you’re doing the groceries with your mom?” said Matthew following my gaze.

“Yeah, I better get back to her. She needs these tomatoes right away.” I zipped around and almost ran down the aisle.

“Here’s the tomatoes, Mom.” I dumped the can in the cart, and let out a sigh of relief.

“Hello! Are you a friend of Debbie’s?” said Mom over my shoulder.

“We’re in the same fourth-grade class,” said Matthew.

I could feel the color draining from my face. No! Why was he following me? Don’t speak to him, Mom, I thought. He’s the meanest and most awful pest in the whole school!

“That’s nice.” Mom smiled at him and looked back at her grocery list. “Now, what am I forgetting?”

Matthew peered into the cart and said, “I see you didn’t get any spinach. You should, you know. Spinach is really good for you.”

“You’re perfectly right. Let’s go to the vegetable section.” Mom made to grab the cart, but Matthew reached it first.

“Allow me.” Matthew took hold of the cart and steered it towards the vegetable section.

“What a well-behaved, young man,” said my mother.

I almost choked. I threw a puzzled look at Matthew. What was he up to now, I wondered.

Matthew stopped in front of the spinach, picked up two bags and placed them in the cart.

“I really believe that you can never eat too much spinach. What about these alfalfa sprouts? They make a nice healthy addition to sandwiches,” he said.

“Yes, you’re right!” said my mother.

Matthew added a container to the cart and moved to the next display.

“And these Brussels sprouts look really fresh.”

Within a few minutes the cart was loaded with broccoli, turnip, and green beans as well.

Suddenly, this all made sense to me. Matthew was loading up our cart with vegetables he thought I would hate.

“There you are, Matthew. I’ve been looking all over for you,” said a stout woman.

“Is this your son? He’s been helping us choose our vegetables,” said my mother.

“Has he?” said Matthew’s mother, a puzzled expression on her face.

“Yes, he sure knows his vegetables. In fact, he really seems to like them a lot,” I said with a big smile.

Matthew gulped, his face turning white. He stepped in front of our cart as if he was trying to shield it from his mother’s view.

Matthew’s mother poked her head around him and peered into our cart. “I really didn’t know you liked all these things, Matthew.”

She looked back at her own cart piled high with chips, sodas, cookies, and cake mixes.

Matthew sneaked over to his mother’s cart and started to push it away. “You know, it’s getting late. I have a school project to finish for tomorrow. We really should go now.”

“Wait, Matthew. Maybe we should bring some of our items back and replace them with these nice vegetables. In fact, I’m sure we should.” She grabbed the front of the cart and pulled it towards the junk food section.

“But Mom...” Matthew scuttled after her, his whines growing fainter as they walked the length of the super market.

“Somehow, I got the impression that Matthew was a vegetarian like us. But I think I might have been mistaken,” said my mother.

“Maybe his life is about to take a turn for the better,” I said.

“How about if we have your favorite dish for dinner tonight: spinach and broccoli pie?” asked Mom.

“That sounds great! Should we ask Matthew if he’d like to join us?”

We both burst out laughing, as we pushed the cart to the checkout line.

The next day at school, Matthew didn’t say a word to me. He didn’t even come close to me. In fact, it looked as if he was keeping away from me on purpose. Yesterday had been a real victory!

When I walked into the cafeteria at lunch time, the first person I noticed was Matthew slumping over his lunch at the end of our fourth-grade table. He sat alone. Nobody ever dared sit next to him.

I took a good look at him. Matthew didn’t seem happy. He was slouching in his chair, one hand supporting his head while the other toyed with the food before him.

I suddenly felt sad for him. I remembered something my mother had said once about how some people did strange or bad things sometimes so that others would notice them.

My heart beating hard against my chest, I strode forward. Instead of taking my place at the other end of the table, I went to sit next to Matthew. Gasps of surprise erupted from my classmates. I ignored them and concentrated on the job at hand.

“Hi,” I said.

“Go away. You’ve caused me enough trouble already,” said Matthew.

“You’re the one who’s been picking on me since kindergarten, remember?”

“You’re not the one who’ll have to eat this awful stuff for the rest of your life.

When my mother makes up her mind about something, she doesn’t give up, ever!” I looked at Matthew’s lunch. The food he was toying with was a jumble of chopped green veggies. I’d never seen such a green lunch in my life!

“What’s that supposed to be?” I asked.

“Salad. Vegetarian food sucks. How can anyone stand eating this way?” grumbled Matthew.

I opened my own lunch and took out a plastic container. Inside was a thick, colorful slice of pie from last night’s dinner. I broke off a piece and offered it to Matthew.

“What is it?” he asked.

“Just try it,” I replied.

Matthew frowned at the food before popping it into his mouth.

“Hey, that’s really good! What’s in here?”

“It’s spinach and broccoli pie, but there’s a whole bunch of other things in it like tomatoes, sweet peppers, carrots, and cheese.”

“Can I have some more?” Matthew stared at my pie licking his lips.

I held out the container to him but didn’t release it.

“I’ll make you a deal. You stop picking on everyone in this school, and I’ll teach you and your Mom about vegetarian cooking.

Matthew drilled his fingers on the table for a minute, his eyes narrowing in thought. My hands felt sweaty. No one made a sound at our table.

“All right. Let’s shake on it.”

Cheers suddenly broke out. I smiled at Matthew as we shook hands. I gave him the rest of my pie. To my surprise, other kids came to sit closer and handed portions of their food to Matthew and me. We soon had more than we could eat.

I felt really good then, much better than I had before. This was a much greater victory - a victory where everyone ended up a winner.

--Pascale Duguay is a freelance writer and translator (French/English) and a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators.