0 (2) Science Fiction: MRS. PETERMAN'S BENTLEY

TITLE: Mrs. Peterman's Bentley
GENRE: Science Fiction

When a traveling alien accidentally drops a broken transporter into 81-year-old Mona Peterman's prize-winning tomato garden, Mona plays with the device and a 1925 Bentley materializes. The half-buried quarter-million dollar car is stuck and the device won’t make it disappear. Now Mona’s an internet sensation as well as the target of a nosy reporter and a garden rival. She must get rid of the car to get her quiet life back in MRS. PETERMAN'S BENTLEY.

It seemed hard to believe, but there it was. Rising out of the earth between the six-foot-tall tomato plants were the smooth, rounded ends of two fenders, twin headlights and tires. The paint job on the Bentley (for Mona Peterman was certain it was a Bentley) was a deep maroon that sparkled faintly where the light hit it in and out of the tomato plant shadows. Where the vines weren’t folding over it, they were wrapped around the car like a lattice, as if protecting it.

“Goodness.” Mona walked around her large, thick garden, peering in between the vines without actually stepping inside. “Goodness me.”

The car had only been in Mona’s garden since late last night, and now, by the light of day, she could get a good look at all the damage it had done to her bed. It was buried at an angle, and the front poked out of the ground as if it were a plane on takeoff. The car ended and the dirt began at the bottom of the front wheels.

Mona took off her gloves and flung them in irritation. They ricocheted off the car’s shiny paint job and slid to the earth, getting lodged between two thick beefsteak tomatoes. Mona sighed as she began picking through fallen pieces of fruit and stacking them on a windowsill.

This was going to set her back considerably in the upcoming Field of Greens tomato competition.