The Giant Strawberry - Reimagined

Once upon a time, there lived a little girl named Nina. Nina is the only daughter of Elmer and Annie Kantabeee. Nina is a precocious seven-year-old. Her father, Elmer, is a hardworking family man, and oh, how he loves his daughter and his lovely wife, Annie, who has as many freckles on her face as there are stars in the sky. Annie is very protective of little Nina, since Nina is her only child. Nina is a straight A student in Big Sky Middle School.

Every morning she kisses her parents goodbye, says goodbye to her dog, Noodles and as she walks along the road she says hello to Mrs. Whitfield and Mr. Benson who is always on his tractor.

Upon returning home from school and after she finishes her schoolwork, her mom always lets her play with the other children down the road and always tells her, “Nina, be sure to come home before dark.” Nina would always say, “Yes Mamma, I’ll be home before dark.”

The closest neighbor to the Kanabees is Mrs. Whitfield. Mrs. Whitfield is the oldest person in town; she is sixty-five years old, but she doesn’t look a day over forty. No one knows her secret to staying healthy and so young, and no one dares ask. Some of the townsfolk think she is a bit eccentric.

You see, she is a farmer just like the rest of the community, but she farms a bit differently from the rest. She refuses to use pesticides and other chemicals on her crops. No, she uses only the finest natural products. Everyone always talks of how her crops grow ten times larger than everyone else’s, and her food always tastes the best.

Every year there is a strawberry pie cook-off, and every year, Mrs. Whitfield wins hands down. This year, her strawberries have grown exceptionally large.

The town reporter came to interview Mrs. Whitfield, and he brought some measuring tape with him. In his article entitled “The Giant Strawberry,” he compared the tiniest strawberry in her garden to the size of a basketball.

Mrs. Whitfield may be a little strange to some, but oh, how she is loved by little Nina. Every day after school, Nina stops by Mrs. Whitfield’s home to sip lemonade with her and eat strawberry pie.

The two would talk about her day at school, and Mrs. Whitfield would reminisce about her younger days. She would always say to Nina, “When I was a little girl your age I would always do this and do that. Boy, how I would love to see those days again.”

On the last day of school for the semester, Nina ran excitedly home. School let out at noon, and her mother promised her she could play all afternoon long up until evening, but that she had to be home before dark. As usual, Nina agreed. So she ran up the road to play with her friends. They played and played and played until suddenly dusk came.

They were having such a good time that Nina had lost track of time. She told her friends she had to hurry home before dark, so she waved goodbye to her friends and started running toward home.

About halfway, she ran out of breath so she began to walk. As she walked, she saw something large on the road, and she heard strange noises of the night such as the crickets creaking, mosquitoes flying about, and wings of moths fluttering by, so she picked up her pace.

But as she continued to walk along the road, she saw something blocking her way home. As she got nearer she realized it was one of Mrs. Whitfield’s giant strawberries. The giant strawberry was so huge that it broke off the vine and rolled onto the road and blocked her way home. Just then, the light at Mrs. Whitfield’s house disappeared and she eerily heard the hoot of a nearby barn owl.

Nina contemplated going around the strawberry, but on one side was this creepy swampy area with snakes, and on the other side were Mrs. Whitfield’s strange natural potions she used to make her fruits and vegetables grow so big.

So Nina knew there was only one thing to do. She had to eat her way through the strawberry until she could get to the other side. So she ate and ate, and ate and ate, she did. When she finally made it to the other side, her tummy was really aching, and it was so big.

So she wobbled all the way home and holding her tummy, she said to herself, “Maybe that’s why every morning I see Mr. Benson on his tractor moving Mrs. Whitfield’s fruit and vegetables off the middle of the road.”

When Nina finally reached home, her father was on the porch waiting for her. He said, “Nina it’s almost dark. What happened, and where have you been?” With tears in her eyes she said, “Well, Daddy, I was trying to get home before dark when one of Mrs.

Whitfield’s strawberries fell off the vine and rolled onto the road, and it blocked my way home.”

With a smile on his face, he looked Nina in eye and said, “Oh, so did you have to eat your way through the strawberry like I did when I was a boy?”

Nina looked up at her dad in great surprise and said, “YES! Daddy, you too?”

Mr. Kantabee took her by the hand, brought her into the house, and gave her a warm bath. Afterward, he said, “We’d better get you to bed before mother comes back from Mrs. Murphy’s house.” So he tucked her into bed and kissed her good night.

The next morning, Annie called Nina downstairs to breakfast. As Nina sat down at the table, she asked, “What are we having?” Her back was toward Nina, and in her hands was a big plate of pancakes smothered with strawberries. With a smile on her face, she turned around and said, “We’re having your favorite pancakes made with Mrs. Whitfield’s famous strawberries.”

When Nina heard her mom say those words, and when she saw that colossal stack of pancakes, all she could do was let out a huge sigh and think to herself “I’ll never be late coming home again.”

The End