Others have had similar experiences with their produce. Mrs. Myrna Capstan has a tomato with a rudimentary nose on it. She thinks it's the work of alien space travellers.

     "I swear, I've heard it sniffle!" she says looking at the tomato on her window sill with a shudder. "I've seen those little men at night in their silvery-gray suits when they come to snatch people. They're just curious about humans and they don't mean to frighten us. But now they're doing things to our gardens! There's cauliflower of mine out there that looks eerie and I don't even want to try to dig up the potatoes! Why isn't the Government stopping them?"

     Anthony Mendell, a Genetic Research Technician at Tesla Research Labs, has examined many samples supplied to him by area residents and is mystified.

     "It's very strange. DNA sequencing is shows these come from genetically normal plants. Somehow they've developed this mutation; this morphological eccentricity. Now, it could have been caused by interference from ultraviolet light, electro-magnetic fields in high tension power lines, possibly gravitational variations---even a misaligned microwave relay dish. Then you'd get one or two cases of strange genetic mutations. But not parts of the human body replicated in vegetable matter. Now, if it were one or two people reporting this stuff, then I'd say it was just a hoax. But I've got specimens from fifty people spread all over that Parallelogram area. To be honest, I am completely stumped."

     "It's all part of eleborate plot for invasion," insists local Putnam UFO enthusiast Roger Beckler. "A month ago, I got a letter from a certain signifacant person in a Ferderal Correctional Facility and they said they had proof the Aliens are splicing their genetic material with humans and placing these hybrids in vegetables to grow. They're literally cultivating an army!"

     Growing veggie body parts has meantime proved profitable to the stunned gardeners around Putnam. Chicago Restaurateur, Pierre Lavesseur, is offering gardeners up to $10 for every odd and bizarre piece of produce they care to sell him.