He took a step back and looked at himself in the mirror. It seemed like he was no longer the scrawny teenager, who still had the body of a twelve year-old boy. He gasped as he began to notice for the first time, a new development which he had never seen before: He was growing taller and more muscular!

“Wow…” he whispered to himself. “All that country food that I’ve been eating must really be helping my body to grow!”

He noticed that his chest had grown a little, with round spheres of pectorals slowly forming over the area that used to be a flat chest. His abdominals started to come out as well; forming cobblestone tiles over the spot where there was nothing more than a flat surface and a navel.

And then he noticed the arms. The boy, who had never seen his own biceps before, now had two round bubbles of muscle forming on his arms. He was amazed by the sudden changes that his body was going through, even though he couldn’t help but feel extremely pleased with the results.

“Eat your heart out, Todd!” Matthew grinned, as he made a fist and flexed his muscles for the first time. He always felt too embarrassed to flex his muscles, simply because he didn’t have any! But now, things were changing. Things were different. And, best of all, things were starting to look up for Matthew Conner. His new muscles reminded him of his big brother Todd, and he began to feel great about his new growth. Not only that, but he felt taller than he was just a few weeks ago. Could it finally be true? Is he finally going through his long-awaited growth spurt?

Matt put on a t-shirt and shorts, with a pair of flip-flops on his feet. Immediately he felt tightness in his clothing. His shirt didn’t fit that loose any more, and his shorts seemed to be getting too small on him. Or were his legs growing longer?

He then stumbled into the kitchen, where his grandmother was already busy preparing breakfast.

“Morning, Grandma!” Matt said cheerfully, as he walked over to where his loving grandmother was busy heating up an omelet over the stove.

“Hey, Matt! How did you sleep?”

“I’m feeling great, grandma!” the boy cheered. “I’ve never felt better!”

“Glad to hear that, my boy!” his grandmother replied.

Matthew just stared at his grandmother for a moment, when he noticed that he had to look down at the old lady for the first time in his life.

“Gosh, grandma…” he chuckled. “You seem like you’ve gotten shorter! Are you shrinking?”

“No, Matt! I think you’re growing! You seem to be getting taller, just like Todd!”

“It must be all that good food you’ve been cooking for me, grandma!” the boy laughed, as he embraced the loving, old lady.

“My goodness, you are growing taller, aren’t you?” she said. “I guess all the steak and potatoes are finally doing their job!”

“You’re the best, grandma!” he chuckled, as he held on to her by her shoulders. “Thank you so much for having me over for the summer, grandma…”

His grandmother just smiled at him. She knew that her herbs and spices were working, and she felt so excited that she was able to give something back to the boy, that he could put to great use for the rest of his life. He was radiating with strength and energy, and he had this incredible feeling of joy and happiness about him. He was growing, he was changing, and they both loved it. She enjoyed this part the best. All she wanted to do was to continue giving him her shake with her herbs and spices, and she could stand back and watch her little grandson as he slowly was being transformed from a boy to a young man.

“Would you like an omelet with your shake for breakfast?” she wondered, as he continued to stare at her with a grin on his face.

“Sure, grandma! Is there anything I can help you with?”

“No, Matthew! Just grab a seat and have a good breakfast, for you’ll be working on the farm today. Save your strength so you can help out Mr. Williams at the dairy farm, alright?”

“Sure, grandma! For all the things you’ve done for me already, it’s the least I could do for you!” Matt replied.

Grandma finally walked over to him and handed him a plate with scrambled eggs, bacon, toast, and two pancakes. She handed him a bottle of syrup and powdered sugar, before she finally sat down with Matt’s shake in one hand and a cup of coffee for herself in the other.

“You’re more than welcome, Matt!” she replied to him. “I’m only getting older, and I don’t know how much longer I’ll be around to see you grow up. That’s why I’m so happy you came, so I could spend some great time with my grandson, before you go back to the city when school starts!”

Matt took a few sips from his shake, and he immediately liked it.

“What do you put in the shake, grandma?” he said, as he licked the white liquid from his lips. “It has kind of a banana taste to it… But it sure tastes good!”

“I can show you some of the herbs and spices after you have finished your breakfast!” she chuckled. “I grow most of them in the greenhouse myself!”

Just at that moment, they heard a gentle knocking on the edge of the screen back door, just behind the kitchen, where Matt and his grandma were sitting.

“Come in, Josh!” grandma said to the boy, who was patiently waiting outside by the back door.

“Good morning!” Josh said, as he walked in the kitchen and sat down next to Matt.

“Hey…” Matt said to him, as the boys gave each other high fives.

“You two are going to have a lot of work to do today…” grandma said to the two young men. “So you had better have a good breakfast! Would you like to try my pancakes, eggs, and a shake, Josh?”

“I already had some cereal for breakfast…” the boy replied. “But I would love to try your shake, please…”

Grandma got up and poured another large plastic cup full of her thick, white milkshake. She then walked back, and handed it to the boy, while placing a plastic straw in the shake for him.

“Wow… this stuff tastes great!” Josh said, as he took his first sip from the plastic straw, which was dipped in the thick, white liquid. “What is it?”

“Oh it’s cut bananas, sugar, crushed ice, a dash of whole milk, and a bunch of herbs and spices!” she said to him. “Drink it all up… It’s good for you!”

For a few moments, it became really quiet in the kitchen. Grandma just looked on with a smile on her face, as she watched the two boys as they completely drank all of the shakes she had given them.

“Aaaahhhh…” Josh said. “That tasted so good, grandma!”

“Yeah, grandma!” Matt said, following Josh’s remark. “That shake hit the spot!”

“Are you kidding me? That shake hit several spots!” Josh laughed. “I feel like I’m full of energy!”

“Well, you boys are going to eat and drink healthy stuff, as long as I’m around! Come, let me show you…” Grandma said, as she slowly got up from the chair. She grabbed hold of her walking stick, as she led the boys to a large, enclosed room, which resembled a tent. The tent was located directly behind her house.

She walked into the large room, which was filled to capacity on both sides of a center aisle. There were pots of all shapes and sizes stacked on the floor and on shelves which were made of wood. Rectangular bricks were used as support for the shelves, and grandma would walk around with a garden hose, watering all the different plants one by one.

“Here, I got these carrots this morning…” she said, as she handed the boys some raw carrots, which were lying on the shelves. ”Carrots are good for your eyes, you know?”

There were pots filled with plants of all shapes and sizes, many of them were small and short. She looked over each one of them, and she was able to tell them what each and every one of them was called.

“As long as you boys are here with me, I’ll make sure you’ll eat only healthy food. You’re both growing up to become strong, young men, and I want to make sure that you’ll eat right, before you go back to school and get fat on all the artificial food that they give you in those cafeterias at school!” she told them in a serious tone of voice.

“That’s fine by me, grandma!” Matt said.

“Now, I want you two to follow the dirt road over there until you come across a big, yellow building. That’s where Mr. Williams milks the cows! Go over there and see if you can help them gather some grain for the cows!”

“We’re on our way, grandma!’ Matt smiled, as the boys headed out.

“Come back for some chicken and potatoes for lunch! You’ll need it!” grandma shouted at the two boys, as they walked down the dirt road, towards the diary farm.

“Hurry up, Josh! We’re running late!” Matt shouted at his friend, who was struggling to keep up, although he wasn’t struggling as much as before.

“Right behind ya, Matt!” Josh hollered back.

The two boys continued to jog over the dusty dirt road until they came to a large, yellow building. A man wearing a cowboy hat was standing next to a tractor, which was just off to the side of the building.

“Hello… We’re looking for Mister Williams!” Matt said to the man, just as he ran up to him.

“Hello there, boys! I’m Mr. Williams!” the tall, slender man replied. “Grandma Conner must have sent you!”

“Yeah…” both boys said, as Josh finally had caught up to Matt.

“The tractor is going to the shop right now, but I need someone to haul several buckets of grain over to the feeding station. Can you boys help?” he asked them.

“Sure!” Matt replied.

“Follow the road to the grain warehouse. Use the shovels and the wheelbarrows, which are located in the back of the warehouse. Haul enough grain to the feeding station, until the large grain container is filled to the rim! It may take the two of you a few dozen trips, before you manage to fill it up!” the farmer chuckled, as he looked over the two teens. “The cows are being milked right now, so you need to start filling the feeding station right now, before we milk them again by 2 o’clock this afternoon!”

“We’re strong enough… We can do it!” Matt assured him.

Then the two boys headed towards the warehouse, as the farmer watched them from a distance. He was happy he now had two assistants who could help him, while his tractor was in the shop for repairs.

“We had better hurry!” Matt said to his buddy. “We don’t have a whole lot of time. We need to haul the grain over there before noon… So we got about two hours to do this!”

As soon as the boys arrived at the large, open warehouse, they ran towards the back wall of the warehouse, where the tools were. There was a storage shed, and the boys located the two shovels and the two wheelbarrows in the stuffy old storage shed.

“Let’s do this, Josh! Go, go, go!” matt shouted, as he tried to spur on his buddy.

Both boys grabbed their wheelbarrows and they rolled them over to the giant mountain of grain. There, they each grabbed their shovels, and they started shoveling grain into the wheelbarrows until they were full. Then they had to push their wheelbarrows over to the feeding station, which was about 50 yards away. Once they arrived there, they were supposed to empty their wheelbarrows in the large containers, so the cows could eat from them.

Matt immediately jumped to the lead, as he hauled off his wheelbarrow while Josh was still shoveling. By the time Josh was done, he pushed his wheelbarrow over to the feeding station. When he arrived there, Matt was just making his 50 yard trip back to the warehouse.

“Faster, Josh! Go, go, go!” Matt shouted at Josh, who was a little slower than him.

When Matt arrived at the warehouse, he shoveled enough grain to load the wheelbarrow, and he immediately started pushing it to the feeding station when Josh arrived with his empty wheelbarrow.

“Count how many wheelbarrows you’ll get to fill and haul over there. We’ll see who wins by the time noon rolls around!” Josh suggested.

“Alright! We’ll hold a contest!” Josh chuckled, as he tried his hardest to keep up with Matt. Both boys worked hard for almost two hours, and they both stopped when Mr. Williams met them at the feeding station and told them that they could stop hauling more grain over there from the warehouse.

“Good job, boys! You’re all done!” the tall farmer said to them.

“Wow…” Josh panted, as he practically reached grandma’s house, completely out of breath. “I have never worked this hard during my summer vacation in my life! I’m exhausted!”

Oh come on, Josh!” Matt chuckled, as he was just catching his breath. “It was great exercise… Besides, it wasn’t that bad!”

Both boys were completely drenched in sweat. They were smelly and their faces were red from working out in the hot, summer sun! They were both feeling tired, although Josh was feeling much worse than Matt.

“But, if this had been a few days ago, I would have been completely punched out!” Josh noticed, as he began to recover from the hard work.

“Hey, I’m not feeling that tired anymore, and you’re starting to recover as well! You see? It wasn’t all that bad!”

“Well, you boys worked very hard this morning” grandma chuckled, as she walked in the room from the kitchen. “Why don’t you boys sit down, so I can make you some jars of sweet tea? Besides, it’s about time for lunch. Wash up, and grab a seat at the dining table!”

Both boys walked over to the bathroom, where they washed their hands. When they came back, grandma had filled two glass jars with ice and sweet tea. Each jar was about the size of a large drinking cup, and both of them gulped down their sweet tea in less than a minute.

“Well, you two were thirsty!” grandma noted, after they both had finished their jars. “I have a large pitcher with more sweet tea!”

“Thank you so much, grandma… I felt like I could have drunk a gallon of water just now!” Josh laughed.

“Well, don’t ruin your appetite! You’ll have some chicken, corn-on-the-cob, mashed potatoes and gravy coming your way!” grandma warned.

“Thank you so much, grandma! I’m starving!” Matt said out loud.

Moments later, grandma served up two large plates with baked potatoes. The two boys started gobbling up all their food, and once they were finished, they both requested seconds from the caring, old lady!

“Wow! You two definitely worked up a good appetite!” she chuckled.

“Grandma, I’m starving! I feel like I could eat a horse!” Matt replied excitedly.

“I feel so hungry, I could eat a cow!” Josh chuckled.

“But we got the job done, grandma! And now that we’ve eaten some food, I feel great again! I’m ready for more action this afternoon!” Matt cheered, as he flexed his biceps before his grandma.

“We should go work out, this afternoon…” Josh wondered out loud. “But, where? There’s no gym on the farm!”

“Well, you use weights when you go to the gym… So, if we can find something that is easy to lift, we could work out on the farm…” Matt pondered.

“I felt like shoveling grain, carrying buckets and pushing a wheelbarrow was a big workout for me!” Josh laughed.

“That’s it!” Matt shouted, as he snapped his fingers. “We can lift buckets of grain as weights!”

As soon as they were done eating, the boys left grandma’s house, and they strolled back to the grain warehouse. When they arrived, they found the shovels, wheelbarrows, and the buckets in the shed.

They walked over to an old beat up recliner chair, which was sitting outside in the sun. They each sat down at the edge of the chair, and they each grabbed a bucket filled with grain. They placed a bucket’s handle in their hand, and they started to do bicep curls with them!

After about ten minutes of doing bicep curls on each arm, they decided to try leg extensions as well. They would sit at the edge of the recliner, and they would hang the handle of each bucket from the shoes, about where the shoe laces were. They would then do leg extensions using buckets of grain as weight, and they loved it! It was great!

The two boys decided to get creative and they began to use other objects that were lying around the warehouse and surrounds, so they could still have the feeling that they were working out in a gym.

They grabbed a few concrete bricks which were lying around behind the warehouse, and they stacked them up on top of each other, creating to pillars of bricks which stood about 5 feet tall. Then they placed a wooden bar over the tops of the bricks, so that it remained flat on them, like a bar on a stand. They created the two pillars just behind the headrest of the old recliner chair, so they could convert it into a weight bench. Then, they used the recliner, the bar and the buckets filled with grain for weights, and they hung the buckets from the wooden bar, which was resting on the two pillars. They were able to use the bar and the buckets for lifting as they were doing the bench press in the gym at home, and it was an incredible experience!

“Whoohoo! That was an awesome workout! I feel great!” Matt cheered, as he flexed his muscles. His pecs, his legs, and his biceps were rock solid! He was burning with energy, and he wasn’t ready to end his workout just yet.

“Let’s go find something heavy that we can lift, push, or pull!” Josh shouted back at him. The two pumped up teens then got off the recliner and they started to run around the farm. At one point, when they arrived at the other fence that was the boundary for the edge of the farm, they saw a stray cow grazing in the field. They saw an old rope, which was tied to the fence, and they untied that before they walked over to the cow. They tied one end of the rope to the cow’s neck, and then they both took turns pulling the cow back to the feeding station.

Although this was a heavy exercise, they thoroughly enjoyed it, because they had the opportunity to pull something that was heavy, while they were helping out at the diary farm at the same time. They were helping the farmers while working out their muscles at the same time!

After the boys had dropped off the cow at the feeding station, they started running back to the house, when they spotted Mr. William’s as he was riding around in his little golf cart. He had purchased the small, electric cart so that he could get around the farm easily and quickly, without using any of the equipment which was needed by the other workers who were on the farm.

The boys decided to jog right besides the cart, but the run didn’t last long. Suddenly, the cart came to a standstill and the engine wouldn’t go back on again when they tried to restart it.

“Darn it, I think I should have charged the battery in this thing…” Mr. Williams said to them. “I just ran out the battery and I’m too far from the workshop to plug it in an electrical outlet so that the battery could recharge.”

“But, the workshop is right over there!” Matt said, as he pointed to the white building, which was maybe 50 yards away from where they were standing at that moment. “Could we try pushing the cart back to the workshop instead?”

With that said, Mr. Williams jumped off the cart and helped Matt and Josh to place their hands against the back of the cart. They slowly got the cart to move and they took a few minutes to push the cart back to the workshop. For Matt and Josh, this was just a fitting end to their afternoon, which seemed like one long workout which took place on the farm rather than on the gym. They loved it, and in many ways, it seemed like this was one of the best workouts they had ever had! (one of the only ones!!)

Matt and Josh were feeling very sweaty after they arrived at Josh’s house. They had worked hard, they had their work-out, and they were drenched in sweat. It was still very hot outside, and a dip in the pool seemed just too good to pass up.

“Ahh… This is great!” Josh cheered, as he came up to the surface after he dove into the pool. “It feels so good to go for a swim like this, after a long, productive day on the farm!”

“Definitely!” Matt replied, as he immediately started swimming his laps in the pool. The boys swam and took turns diving off the diving board. They shot water basketball using a plastic ball and a floating hoop. And they talked about the incredible work-out they had that afternoon.

After the boys had come out of the pool and had dried off, they went into Josh’s room. Josh had some extra clothes for Matt, and they put on some dry clothing before they walked out the door, back to Matt’s grandma’s house.

“You know something, Matt?” Josh asked his best friend, while the boys walked in the house. Grandma was watching TV when they walked in, even though the boys didn’t see her at first.

“What’s that?”

“I feel different…” Josh noticed. “It’s as if I have more energy or something…”

The boys walked back into Matt’s bedroom, where they both stood next to each other, admiring their reflections in the large mirror, which was hanging on the closet door.

“I’m gonna take my shirt off, so I can check something…” Matt said quietly. He pulled his shirt over his head, tossing it on his bed, before he turned back towards the large mirror.

“Something’s going on here…” Matt whispered.

“Dude! You look… bigger…” Josh gasped, as he had a good look at his friend’s body.

“I can’t remember that I could being able to reach out and touch the top of the closet door…” Matt wondered out loud. “Do I look taller to you?”

“Yes, I think you have grown a little bit, since you arrived here almost three weeks ago!”

“It must be grandma’s cooking…” Matt chuckled, as he turned and checked out his legs, his back, and his pecs in the mirror. “All this healthy stuff she’s been feeding me, that must somehow be paying off, I guess…”

“Well, I noticed something too…” Josh whispered.

“What?” Matt asked him.

“You look bigger… I don’t mean just taller… No, I mean BIGGER…” Josh observed.

“Maybe you’re right… My arms and my chest seem like they’ve gotten a little bigger, don’t you think?” Matt wondered, as he flexed his biceps in the mirror, so he could see.

Josh then took his shirt off as well, and he stood in front of the mirror.

“I don’t look much different, but I FEEL different…” he said in a quiet tone of voice.

“Well, after a day like today… You should feel different… You should be feeling GREAT!” Matt chuckled, as he patted Josh on the back.

“I’m just not so tired right now…” Josh noticed. “I feel like I still have some energy left! Do you feel it too?”

“Yeah…” Matt grinned, as he started to pose before the mirror.

“I’m feeling strong enough… to do THIS!!” Josh shouted, as he flung his right arm at Matt’s shoulder, and then pushed the boy to the floor. He then leaped on top of Matt, pinning him with his back on the carpet. Matt lay there in a daze for a few seconds, for he didn’t expect it. But, he then grounded his teeth together, and placed his hands against Josh’s chest. Both boys were just grinning at each other, since they were both now enjoying the fact that they had all this extra energy and they wanted to wrestle it off before heading to bed that night.

“I’ll… get… free…” Matt said, as he strained to push Josh off of him. After a few seconds, Matt was able to press Josh off to the side, allowing him to roll Josh on his back. He then positioned himself over Josh’s torso, pinning his friend to the floor this time.

“You thought you had me going there, huh?” Matt chuckled, while looking down at Josh’s face. Josh was all red from the strain and his hair was all sweaty again. But he loved it; he actually managed to hold Matt down on the floor for a few seconds, before Matt was able to turn the tables on him.

“Yeah, but you gotta admit that I put up a good fight! You can’t beat me that easily anymore!” Josh giggled.

“It seems like we’re both becoming stronger!” Matt chuckled.

“We should do this again tomorrow!” Josh replied. “This was so much fun…”

“I bet I can lift more than you!” Matt laughed.

“No, you can’t! I can lift more!”

“Liar!” Matt shouted at him. “Liar, liar, pants on fire!” he said, while poking Josh in the sides with his fingers.

“Stop! Stop! You’re tickling me!” Josh laughed out loud, while Matt still had him pinned down to the floor.

Grandma was quietly standing in the hallway, peering through the door opening. She would get worried that the boys were being too rough on each other, but when she heard all the laughter, she was a little more at ease.

She realized that the boys were admiring their muscular growth and their increased size and strength, and she felt content. about that. She loved having Matt over because he made her feel like he needed her, and she felt useful. How many more years would she be able to enjoy her health? She knew that she was in the twilight of her life. But her life was a good one at that, and she figured that the least she could do for her youngest, and last, grandson, was to give him something that he would treasure for the rest of his life as well.

For her, the greatest joy would be to watch her grandson grow up. She didn’t know how many more years she would have left in her life, but at least she knew that she found away to speed up the boy’s growth, for the duration of his visit to her home.

Matt’s visit to his grandma would only last for the duration of the summer. But the benefits that he would receive from this visit would last for the duration of a lifetime.

The end •