Inside vegetation? What? That’s right folks, I’m talking about the inside of fruits and vegetables. And no, this will not make sense, so please, leave your sense of reality behind before you read the rest of this.
I’ve been thinking about the insides of fruits and vegetables since the other day when I found something peculiar inside a pumpkin. It all started on Wednesday when I saw my friend Liz. She invited me to carve pumpkins with her on Friday night. There would be be a scary movie outside behind her house and lots of friends carving pumpkins together. “Hurrah!” I replied, for what more could excite me in the middle of October than a most festive fall event.
Right away, I set off to find a pumpkin to carve, or maybe two. After walking for quite some time past trees and fields of non-pumpkin like plants, I saw a sign in the distance. It read: “PUMPKIN PATCH AHEAD–PICK YOUR OWN” A few paces later, I was there. Beyond my nose I saw a lumpy orange landscape. Excited at the seemingly endless variety of shapes and sizes, I leapt with joy in my toes toward the masses of potential jack-o-lanterns. But before I leapt even three leaps, “SKRWASH!”, I had stepped right onto a pumpkin. Wiping the slimy seeds from my left shoe, I noticed something moving inside the pumpkin. Maybe it was a stinkbug, or just a leaf blowing past. I looked closer and I saw tiny, bright blue creatures crawling around. Curious, I got down on my hands and knees and stuck my face right up to the edge of the smashed pumpkin and this is what I saw:
There were lots of pumpkin seeds strewn about. I expected that. But I didn’t expect to see tiny dogs trampling each other and lots of little people dressed in blue. There seemed to be a ceremony or a game taking place. Who are these little men? Are they even men? I watched one of the men climb a ladder halfway, take a candle from another man standing on the floor, climb the rest of the way up the ladder while holding the candle, and then jump from the ladder and, while in midair, place the candle on a shelf. How did they even make a shelf inside a pumpkin? And why were all the furnishings purple? They were so focused and serious with their various tasks that they never even looked up to see me! After a few minutes, I decided that I should invade their privacy no longer. My damage to their pumpkin dwelling did not affect their work, and so I did not feel too bad about the smashing.
Stepping on that pumpkin was a complete accident. I wonder what I would find inside other fruits and vegetables if I were intentionally searching for tiny men dressed in blue, or other surprising creatures. What do you think you would find?
Here’s the prompt for this week:
Find a pumpkin, or a pepper, or a pineapple, or some form of vegetation that you can smash, or just open up. Look inside! What’s in there? If you don’t see any funny little people like I saw, maybe they are just too small to see. What would they look like if you could see them? What would they be doing? Draw what you see happening, or what you think you can’t see happening on the inside of a fruit or vegetable. Maybe you can use some of the juice to paint with.
When you’re done with your drawing, scan it or take a picture of it and send it to Matthew so he can post it next Tuesday for everyone to see.