The Little Strawberry

One of the Little stories for a childrens book

Sally was just the cutest strawberry you ever did see.  She has the nicest tuft of bright green leaves on the top of her head, and her color?  The red of that girl’s skin was practically impossible to describe.  No, come to think of it, it was impossible to describe if you never saw her.  So, the next time you are at the grocery store, just go over to the produce section.  (Now please don’t go alone if you are too young to be alone.)   Just wander over by the fruits and look at the strawberries, and see if you don’t see Sally.  She’ll be right there in one of those little green boxes with the clear plastic wrapping across the top, held on by a rubber band.  I do declare that if Christmas came in June or July, that people would just put a bow on top of those pint boxes and give them as presents.

But Sally wasn’t always that proud as to want everyone to see her that is.  You see, Sally was born and raised in a little farm in Dickinson, Texas.  That’s way down near Galveston in case you’re not from Texas, but then you might not know where Galveston is either.  Anyhow, it’s right near the gulf of Mexico, unless you don’t know where Mexico is… Oh forget it.  “Dickinson was once the Strawberry Capital of the World.” She remembered hearing the farmer say, on a field trip with her school.  “I wonder what happened?”  Sally thought to herself.  “If this used to be the Capital, why would they change it?”

So, that day when sally got home from school, she just casually asked her mother “I heard that Dickinson used to be the Strawberry Capital of the World, mom?”  She didn’t want to make it seem as if she was too interested, so she went about finding something to eat in the fridge.  But, her mom didn’t answer and while Sally was moving the milk to one side, she casually added “I wonder what would have made them change it?”

“Change what?” Dear, her mom said.

“The Strawberry Capital.” Sally answered.

“I guess they just decided to change it.”  Her mom answered.

So, Sally went into her room to do her homework, but she kept wondering why the Capital had been changed.  “I wonder if it was something I did.”  Sally began to think to herself, not accepting her mother’s explanation.  She became so distracted that she could hardly even concentrate on the book she was trying to read.  Finally, she went to her dressing table and looked in the mirror.  The tuft of green on top of her head looked perfect, her red color was just right.  “It must be something about me that made them change it!”  She thought to herself again, and at that moment she saw what it was.  Sally screamed out in horror…“I’ve got seeds all over my face.”

Wouldn’t you know it, just at that moment, Sally’s little sister Samantha was walking right by the open door to Sally’s room.  “It was my fault.” Sammie, that was Samantha’s nickname, heard her sister say.  Sammie began to wonder what it was that Sally had done.

Sally saw Sammie standing by the door and said. “Look at me Sammie, I’ve got seeds all over my face, and I can’t ever go back to school ‘cause all the kids will laugh at me.  I think it was all my fault that Dickinson isn’t the Strawberry Capital any more, and…”  Sally just kept going on and on. 

Now Samantha didn’t think there was anything to be alarmed about as everybody had seeds on their faces, at least all the strawberries that she had ever known.  She remembered her parents talking about Hormones, whatever those were, and saying that Sally was just changing and growing up.  Then Sammie started to get worried.  “I don’t know if I ever want to grow up.”  She said to herself as she looked at her own little tuft that she was sure was getting greener and greener by the day.

Samantha was pretty smart, being the younger sister and all, so that afternoon, she began to think of a plan.  “I can’t just tell Sally that everybody has seeds on their faces.” She thought rightly to herself.  “With those Hormone things that she has, Sally would never believe me,” she surmised.  You may have not known that kids are capable of surmising anything, but it is a proven fact that much of the surmising in the world is done by kids Samantha’s age.  So Samantha set out to find out the real reason why Dickinson was not the Strawberry Capital any more.

She convinced her mom to take her to the library so she could ask the Librarian.  Kids Sammie’s age do an awful lot of the convincing in the world too.   The Librarian was a prune and was no help at all, but her name sign said ‘Miss Plum.’   Sammie was tempted to call the Librarian ‘Old Prune Face,’ under her breath, but realized that everybody was conscious of how they look.  So, she thanked the Librarian nicely, complimenting her dress, and decided to look it up for herself and found a book called ‘The History of Dickinson Texas.”

“I went to the Dickinson Public Library and found out why our town is not called the Strawberry Capital of the World anymore.” Samantha said to her big sister as she stood outside of Sally’s door. 

“Why didn’t I do that?” Sally thought to herself as she was still looking at her face in the mirror trying to count every seed.

“Dickinson used to be nothing but Strawberry farms.”  Sammie told her sister. “But then about forty years ago, they built the Johnson Space center over in Houston.  When all the people who worked at the space center needed a place to live, several of the farms were sold to make room for houses.”

Thank’s ‘sis,” Sally said as she saw that Samantha was sprouting quite a set of seeds herself.  “It’s sure nice to have a ‘big’ sister like you.” Sally said to her little sister who was big in so many ways. “Do you think my red looks OK?”  Sally said to Samantha as she now looked into the mirror admiring her own color, while paying no attention to her seeds.

“Your red is the mostest.” Sammie said as she walked out of Sally’s room looking for their mother.  “Hey mom!” she shouted.  “Has there ever been a Strawberry in Space?”

The End

A Sean Allen Story

Reviews

[zainul]

This is a great story.
I often think that strawberry might be also be a popular character as pumpkin,
orange,sesame and spinach stories.
I am not sure if there is any children movie on strawberry like those.
Hope to review your other stories soon.
Best regards,
Zainul