I have a story to tell you.

Once upon a time, on a gorgeous July 31st morning, I was journaling in the kitchen while Dad was heating up a yummy Chinese-y breakfast on the stove.

"Ta-da!" Mom said, coming into the kitchen from the side door that led to the backyard. She held in her hand the longest string bean I've possibly ever seen in my life.

"What is that?" I asked, looking up from my journal.

"All her hard work," Dad said, without missing a beat. He grinned while Mom chuckled.

"What? I don't get it," I said.

"That's all it gave you?" Dad asked her, as he checked on the Chinese baos steaming in the pan.

"Yup," Mom replied. "It's from the seeds that Uncle Keon gave me."

"Wait...how long have you been growing the plant?" I asked.

"Um...well, since June I think."

"You've been growing that thing for two months and all it did was grow that one string bean??"

"It would've been nice to have a whole bunch of them," Mom said. She didn't really sound disappointed - in fact, she seemed unfazed by the whole thing, as if growing more than one bean would be the cherry on top.

"I told you, it's all her hard work," Dad said, handing me my breakfast.

I stared at the purple bao set before me. I had never eaten a purple bao before. This was quite unexpected. I was beginning to theorize that the food we ate reflected some indication of our family's weird behavior.

"So...what are you going to do with it?" I said, turning my gaze back to the elongated, home-grown vegetable.

"I'll cook it up next week," Mom said, starting to walk away.

"Dad, my bao is purple," I said. Dad shrugged.

I put the purple bao in my mouth, imagining what it would be like if I turned purple tomorrow, just like the girl in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

And we all lived happily eating taro baos ever after.

THE END

Alternate Ending: And then I found $5 on the floor.