Strawberry Fields Forever

Curly, auburn hair and cute as a button, Sunny went to visit her grandparents. She was 5 years old.

Grandpa had a wonderful garden in the backyard, between the garage and a little wooden shed. Green beans, tomatoes, squash and peas grew in perfectly straight rows. An array of sunflowers inhabited a corner of the garden. Sunny gathered the seeds from beneath their droopy heads and carefully placed them in a pocket of her yellow jeans.

Sunny decided her favorite plants in the garden were the strawberry bushes. She searched for the big, red, ripe strawberries, plucked them off their stems, blew on them to remove the dirt, then popped them into her mouth. Grandpa knew she had eaten the strawberries; a tell-tale, red ring encircled her tiny, cherub mouth.

" Have you been eating Grandpa's strawberries, Babygirl?" he teased her.

" Only the red ones," Sunny answered, as she looked up and beamed at him like the angel she tried to be and Grandpa knew she was.

" Would you like to know where strawberries came from?" Grandpa asked his favorite girl.

" Oh please Grandpa, tell me!" Sunny begged.

He then took her onto his lap and told her this story.....

" Once upon a time in a far off land, there lived a little girl just like you. This little girl's name was Peony, because that was her mother's favorite flower.

Peony also liked to play in her grandpa's garden. She would take her dolls out into the yard and set up a table and chairs for them with pretty plates and cups to eat and drink out of. They would have a grand time, eating carrots, lettuce and other vegetables Peony brought to them from the garden. She even made a big bouquet with flowers and put it in the middle of the table for all her dolls to look at. Peony was a good hostess at her party. She served water from the garden hose for the dolls to drink. Everyone was happy and told Peony that the food was very good.

" What's for dessert?" Teddy Bear asked Peony when he took the last bite of his carrot.

" Dessert? I hadn't thought about dessert!" Peony exclaimed. She looked around the garden, but there wasn't anything sweet for the dolls to eat. What will I do? Peony asked herself. She didn't want to disappoint her guests.

Suddenly, Peony saw something move in the garden, between the rows of peppers and green beans. She went over to investigate. There, under a large green pepper, was a little furry, red animal with wings! Peony had never seen anything like it before. It looked like a bunny rabbit but its legs were like a bird's and it was scratching away at the ground under the pepper plant.

" What are you doing in my grandpa's garden?" Peony asked the creature.

She looked at Peony forlornly. " I need to find a place to lay my eggs, and your grandpa's garden is such a nice place, I thought I would put them here. Do you think he would mind?"

Peony saw the sad look on the animal's face. " Oh no, I don't think he would mind at all."

The strange looking creature smiled. " Oh good! It is such a lovely garden."

" Yes it is," Peony agreed. " I've never seen an animal like you before. What's your name?"

" Oh, how rude of me. My name is Ruby and I am a strawberry sower."

" What is a strawberry sower?" asked Peony. She was thinking of a sewing machine.

" I sow strawberries!" Ruby exclaimed proudly.

" What are strawberries?" Peony was really confused now.

Ruby looked startled. " You don't know what strawberries are?"

Peony shook her head.

" They are the sweetest, most delicious fruit from the planet Twinkles!" Ruby explained.

" Well, can my friends and I try some of those strawberries? We need something sweet to eat after the lunch of vegetables we just ate."

" Of course you can! Everyone should eat strawberries, they are very tasty." Ruby reached under one wing and pulled out a tiny gold sack.She opened the bag and dropped four, red seed- speckled objects into Peony's hands. They were shaped almost like hearts and had little green hats for their tops.

" They look very pretty," commented Peony as she inspected them.

" They taste as good as they look! Go ahead, try one, but don't eat the green part," instructed Ruby.

Peony bit into one of the strawberries. '"Oh my! They are tasty! Can I have some more?" she asked as she popped the three remaining strawberries into her mouth.

Ruby handed her the gold sack. " Do you think your grandpa would like the strawberries? I could plant some seeds in his garden for letting me lay my eggs in it."

Peony nodded her head. Her mouth was full of strawberries.

" Wonderful! Wonderful! I'll start right away. I think he will be very pleased with them," Ruby said as she happily got down to the business of sowing strawberry seeds in Peony's grandpa's garden.

Peony ran over to the table and shared the rest of the strawberries with her friends. They loved them as much as she did.

" Thank you very much for the strawberry dessert for my party, Ruby," said Peony shyly to her new friend.

" You're very welcome. Thank you for letting me lay my eggs in your grandpa's garden. When the eggs hatch, you will have plenty of strawberry sowers to sow strawberries in other people's gardens! Goodbye for now!" and Ruby lifted into the air and was on her way back to the planet Twinkles.

And that's where strawberries came from," Sunny's grandpa finished.

Sunny clapped excitedly. " Tell me another story, Grandpa!"

Grandpa laughed and began a story of where the moon and stars came from.