The Pit

My kids have a recent obsession with pits, you know the inside of plums, nectarines, peaches, etc. Every day when I am cutting one, Jotham says,” Is there a pit in there? Can I see it?" I've come to tell him that it is hiding and doesn't want anyone to see him. He then puts on his pit voice, "I'm hiding but I want to come out." So one day after weeks of this they asked me to tell them a story and this is what I came up with.

There once was a pit that was very shy and didn't want anyone to see him. He was very afraid that someday someone would eat the fruit that was wrapped around him and he would have to come out. When he was hanging on his tree he used to hide behind the leaves so the farmer would not pick him, but one day the farmer found him, put him in a box and sent him to the grocery store. When he was at the grocery store he used to try to hide under all the fruit so no one would buy him and bring him home.

One day, he heard a little boy say, "Mommy, can we get some nectarines?" The Mommy said, "Yes, son that sounds good" and she came over to find just the right ones. While this little pit was trying to hide the little boy picked him up and said, "I like this one." So the Mommy put him in her bag. The poor little pit was so scared because he knew that little boy was going to eat all the fruit that was covering him up.

Later that day, when he was hanging around the fruit bowl with the bananas and apples trying not to think about getting eaten the Mommy walked into the kitchen, flipped on the light, grabbed him, turned off the light and walked outside. He heard her call, "Son, its snack time." "Oh No!" thought the pit "What am I am going to do? He is going eat all my fruit and then I'll be...NAKED...and everyone will see me!"

He didn't have much time to think as the little boy loved to eat nectarines and started taking bites right away. It didn't take long before parts of the pit started to show through the fruit. And bite and bite more and more of the pit was showing. The pit wanted to run, he wanted to hide but there was no where to go!

The little boy finished eating his snack and being the busy little guy he was took the pit, looked at it for a minute and then threw it into the grass behind his house. "That was close." thought the pit. "But wait, here I am in the grass, naked for anyone to see. What am I going to do?"

Fortunately for the pit, it started to rain ...and rain...harder and harder. And as it rained the ground got softer and softer and as it did the pit wiggled himself deeper and deeper into the ground. The pit was so glad that he was safe he feel asleep.

When he woke up he felt much different. It looked at himself and he noticed that he was started to grow, not bigger but rather from the inside out. There were long "things" starting to come out of him. At first he wasn't sure he like it up then he felt stronger and stronger and decided this was the new pit. And then one day part of his new self pushed his way up to the top of the ground and pushed it's way out. And then he really started to grow and grow until he got leaves and branches and a strong trunk and then one day, many years later, a perfect nectarine grew. The pit realized that there had been no reason to be so afraid of what was going to happen because everything had happened just the way it was meant to.