Bubky And Jono’s Root Beer Plant

This story was originally published on Medium.

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The day Samir went missing, his parents were devastated, but Samir was elated. This was not because Samir hated his parents. Of course not, he loved them. But Samir was transported to a land that gave him a phenomenal experience.

He was exploring the woods just behind his house. Taking in the sights, tree after tree, bush after bush. His mother had warned him not to travel too far into the woods. He wondered why. If he were to take the woods deep enough, he would just end up in the backyard of another property… a house on the parallel street in his rectangular neighborhood.

Apparently, parents collectively just thought the woods were dangerous. Quite the opposite. The woods were marvelous. Samir found a humongous tree with a deep hole carved into it. Climbing into the hole to investigate as any sane seven-year-old would do, Samir quickly found himself disoriented inside the tree. He emerged from inside of it to find… the woods he had originally stepped foot in were not the same woods he was stepping foot in now.

All the trees were different. Different shapes, different heights, different colors. The colors were more vibrant. The air was 10 degrees warmer. Clearly, Samir had been transported somewhere else. Just to be sure, he headed back the way he had come. He had been counting his steps so he could brag to his friends how far into the woods he had gone. 127 steps. He took 127 steps back… he should’ve been able to see his house… just more forest. Even another 50 steps had him positioned dead in the center of a vast forest.

Samir doubled back towards the tree he had entered, when he came across a small tribe of people. They were hiding behind bushes. Samir was afraid at first, but quickly, the tribe emerged from behind the bushes and greeted Samir with smiles and handshakes.

They asked where Samir had come from. When he said “Buffalo, New York” they didn’t know what that was.

“The great and sacred buffalo of the northern portion of the forest?” One tribesman asked.

“No, Buffalo the city.” Samir said.

“What is a city?” Another tribesman asked.

“It’s the place where I live.”

The tribesmen nodded collectively. They asked Samir if he was hungry. Samir said he was. They asked him to follow them so they could assist in nourishing him.

They walked to the right… which Samir knew was East… if he was back home in Buffalo. Who knows where he was now?

Eventually, they made their way to a small village of sorts, or more like a large campsite. The rest of the tribesmen’s family and friends were there. Samir was given brief introductions. Then, some of the tribesmen, Bubky and Jono, led him to a slow-flowing stream.

The stream was interesting. It bubbled. Not like a hot, bubbling, boiling pot of water. But like something else. Like… sparkling water.

At the edge of the bubbling stream, there were many plants that Bubky and Jono showed to Samir. They ripped one from the ground, stem and all, and handed it to Samir. It was an unappealing light brown color, jagged and rough. Samir held it at arm’s length. But Bubky and Jono urged him to eat it. Samir took a bite… and the plant was delicious!

“This tastes just like root beer!” Samir exclaimed.

“We do not know what a root beer is.” Bubky responded. “Is this something from your see-tee?”

“Yes, it’s a bubbly drink, but it tastes like this.”

“Maybe you should try it with the bubbling water.” Jono suggested, motioning towards the stream.

Jono had a hollowed-out rock on him, which he dipped into the bubbling stream. He gave it to Samir and Samir dunked the plant into the water. He let it marinate, and then took a sip.

Root beer!

Samir was amazed and delighted. He wondered if this was where root beer came from. The next plant that Bubky and Jono gave to Samir was bright orange in color. It wrapped around in circles like a vine. It had bristly pieces jutting out of it. A bite of this and Samir instantly knew the flavor. Not orange… but orange soda. It had that delightful artificial flavor to it.

Samir tried this plant with the bubbling water and sure enough, that was an orange soda right there. Samir asked Bubky and Jono to show him more plants. He wanted to know what other sodas he could create. Each plant that they gave Samir, he had a new idea. He shared the drinks with Bubky and Jono, who admitted that no one in the village had thought to combine the plants with the water. They were delighted with the drinks as well.

There was a bright blue berry with aqua colored vines attached. It was heavy and milky-looking, filled with a liquid that seeped from inside. Combining this with the bubbling water created cream soda. The brown rocks growing off of the side of a tree were cola flavored and mixed beautifully with the bubbling water. There were grapes growing nearby. Samir mixed those with bubbling water… it was disgusting. But a purple and maroon plant with a fuzzy texture nearby mixed with bubbling water, that created grape soda.

With the strange yellow and orange polka dotted tomato type things that grew right at the water’s edge, Samir made a lemon-lime soda. A green and red herb that looked like basil created something like ginger ale when mixed with the bubbling water. Samir was convinced, he had found the place where soda flavors came from! What a discovery! Right in his own backyard! He bet everyone in the world wanted to know where the soda flavors came from, but the big soda corporations never let on to those secrets. And Samir knew the secret!

Samir stayed with the tribesmen for a few days, talking, laughing, eating, sharing stories. Everyone was fascinated with the far away and exotic land of Buffalo. They marveled at Samir’s stories of cars and buildings and paper with words on it that was shoved into your mailbox so you could read what other people were doing.

After a few days, Samir said he should be going home to see his parents again. The tribesmen helped him to locate the tree and Samir jumped back inside. When he emerged, he was back in the woods behind his house. But they were a little different. Mainly they looked the same, but there were some new plants next to the tree. The plants Samir had only seen when he was with the tribesmen. The plants that made soda flavors.

Samir collected as many as he could in his little arms and rushed back to his house. His parents were so relieved to see him again. Samir couldn’t get a word in as his parents asked where he was and then asked if he was okay and then asked more questions and never allowed him to speak. It took about an hour before Samir could calm them down.

Once his parents were assured he was fine, he told them about his discovery. The soda plants. Samir’s parents acted as if they had never heard of soda before. Samir decided to show them. He took some sparkling water that they had in the refrigerator and combined it with the plants. His parents were astonished by the amazing flavors, but when Samir labeled them as “Ginger Ale” “Cola” “Orange Soda” they had no idea what he was talking about.

Days later, Samir’s dad brought some friends over. Samir made them drinks. Everyone was fascinated at the flavors and couldn’t believe they had never tasted these flavors before. Samir was confused.

Samir’s mom brought friends over a week later. The same result happened. No one knew what these flavors were. Samir made sodas for his friends, his friends’ families, their extended families, all with the same results. No one seemed to remember what a soda was. Word spread of the little boy in Buffalo making fantastic bubbly drinks. Word reached the news outlets, first local stations, then national ones.

It became quite clear to Samir, something had changed when he went to that other land, the world forgot about soda. Or soda never existed, even though Samir had already known about it. Samir swore that he didn’t create it… he was recreating it. But how could he be recreating it if no one else ever had it in the first place? There was no such thing as soda in the aisles of grocery stores, not in the machines at the fast-food restaurants or at the movie theaters, not even at the little convenience store on the corner down the street from Samir’s home.

Samir’s dad quit his job and helped Samir to set up a business that they ran out of their home. They attracted customers from all over New York, soon from all over the Northeastern United States, and then from even farther. Samir had a conversation with an elderly man who drove all the way from New Mexico to buy some of his one-of-a-kind root beer. Samir was amazed.

And that was how Samir became the boy who invented soda… and all of its flavors. When asked for his inspiration for his creations, Samir always insisted he didn’t create these drinks. They already existed. When asked who had created them first, Samir never had an answer… because he was telling people who had drank soda their whole lives, they just didn’t remember it.

But Samir always thanked Bubky and Jono in his interviews. Without Bubky and Jono… this world may have never had soda.

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