Tiny Pear Houses

“Sophia, Sophia, come on you’re going to make us late,” mum called.

I dived out of bed, remembering, today I’m going to visit Grandma and it’ll only be the two of us all day. I’d almost forgotten, yet I’d been waiting for this day all week.

I quickly dressed and raced out of the house to jump in the car. Mum and Dad were already waiting in the car and Mum passed me a container and plastic spoon.

“Sophia, here’s some fruit salad that you can eat on the way, for breakfast, since you slept in.”

“Thanks Mummy,” I replied.

It didn’t take us long to get to Grandma’s house, where Grandma was sitting, waiting on her porch. As soon as the car stopped, I jumped out, waving goodbye to Mummy and Daddy, as I flew up the stairs and into Grandma’s arms.

“Wow Sophia you’re getting big now you have turned 6 years old. Look at you, you’re getting so tall. You’ll be taller than me in a couple of years,” Grandma chuckled.

We walked inside, hand in hand, until we reached the kitchen.

“Sophia why don’t you go play in the backyard for a while and I’ll get the kitchen all set up so we can do some baking. Sound like a good idea?”

I thought it was a great idea and had all this energy to burn. I raced out the back door and into the back garden. I love Grandma’s garden as she grows all her own fruit and vegetables. I especially like the fruit trees, as I love climbing them.

There is an orange tree, a soursop tree, an avocado tree and an old gnarled pear tree. I had never seen the pear tree with fruit on it and often asked Grandma why it doesn’t bear fruit. Grandma had told me that it was a special pear tree and only fruited every ten years. I was too young to understand why.

However, on this day I was super excited to see that the pear tree was covered in green pears. They didn’t look ripe enough to eat just yet, but I decided to climb the tree to see if there where any ripe one’s up high and out of reach.

As I was climbing the pear tree I noticed these little flying insects buzzing everywhere. Insects I’d never seen before anywhere, let alone in Grandma’s garden. The really strange thing was it looked like the flying insects where flying inside some of the pears themselves. No they can’t be.

I decided to sit in the fork of some branches, fairly high up the tree, and watch these little flying insects.

The insects were very tiny, no bigger than a house fly and whatever they were doing they were super busy doing it.

I sat quietly, for what seemed like hours to me and started to notice more about these insects. It’s like they had forgotten I was here and they were just getting about their day. They didn’t seem so frantic and had slowed considerably, until I began to notice they were tiny, human looking, with gossamer like wings.

The longer I sat quietly, the more I got to see. I was watching three in particular. One little tiny person, with wings, wore a tiny little pink glittery dress and her wings were purple shimmers in the sun. She had tiny blonde curls on her head and seems to be laughing and happy.

In fact, I was starting to realise, while sitting ever so quietly, that I could hear them talking and laughing. Well the one in the pink dress was laughing anyway.

The second one I was watching wore blue shorts and a pale blue tank top. This is obviously a boy and he seemed to be scolding the girl in pink. She’d just laugh at him and flitter off.

The third was another girl and she wore a lime green shimmery skirt and a pale green sleeveless top. She didn’t seem to be doing anything but flying in place, watching the other two.

I was totally fascinated in what I was seeing and quietly whispered, “hello.”

I hope I don’t scare them away. They all looked in my direction, so I stayed very still and waited. After some time, all three flew over near me to get a better look.

“Hello my name is Sophia,” I said, hoping they’d see I meant them no harm.

The little one in pink replied, “hello my name is Glorious and we are fairies.”

“Hi my name is Splendour,” the girl in green shyly told me.

I looked to the boy and he responded, “hello my name is Handsome and it’s nice to meet you.”

They began to tell me their story and how it’s been a long, long, time since they have had a child come to visit. See teenagers and adults cannot see them because as people get to a certain age, they no longer believe in fairies. Once you stop believing, you stop seeing. I promised I would never stop believing.

We talked and talked and talked for what seemed like hours. It couldn’t have been, of course, or Grandma would have called me in.

Their little lives really fascinated me and I couldn’t stop asking questions. I knew so much about these little fairies after they answered all I asked but then I realised I didn’t know where they actually lived.

So I asked this one last question, because I could hear Grandma coming to get me.

Glorious explained that when the pears get to a certain ripeness, they are able to carve out the inside and turn each pear into a tiny house. They carve out windows and a door and the soft flesh is just wonderful to sleep on. The magical thing about it all, is that once carved the pears stop ripening, so there’s not that need to move house every time a pear gets overripe or rotten.

They pointed out, right up high, some of the pear houses. I hadn’t noticed until they pointed them out, but now I can clearly see the little doors and windows in each pear house.

Splendour let me in on another secret. The fairies only carve up the fruit that’s too high for picking so that adults don’t come and accidentally steal our homes. I’m glad she told me that as I was starting to worry for them.

“Sophia time to come in and help me bake,” Grandma called.

I said goodbye to my new friends, promising to come back to visit soon and raced inside.

“Grandma what are we going to make?” I excitedly asked.

“A pear and carrot cake for you to take home to Mum and Dad. But first we need to go and pick some pears off the tree,” Grandma replied.

I followed her outside, as she picked up a bucket near the back door, and headed to the pear tree. Grandma began picking pears and showing me how I can tell they are ripe.

“The best ones seem to be near the top of the tree,” Grandma explained as she reach, right up high, and picked a perfect looking pear.

I was horrified as she had picked one of the fairy homes. Oh no, the fairies are right, Grandma can’t see them. She hasn’t even noticed the door and windows carved into the fruit or the tiny fairy hovering in the corner, absolutely terrified.

“Grandma, no not that one, that’s a fairy house and you are stealing their home,” I cried.

Grandma looked at the fruit in her hand and laughed, “I love your active imagination Sophia. Let’s go inside, I have enough pears to make our cake.”

I was so upset and didn’t know what to do. The other fairies where flying around me, asking me to help their friend. But what could I do?

Grandma had gone back inside so I looked at the upset fairies, “if you can pick me another nice pear, as I can’t reach, I’ll go and swap it for your friend that Grandma has taken inside.”

Off they flew to find and pick the most perfect pear for me, and once picked, it took six tiny fairies to fly it down to where I was waiting.

I raced inside with my newly picked pear, to see Grandma washing the fruit she’d picked. I placed my pear in my pocket until I could get a chance to swap it with the fairy house.

“Sophia come and help me,” Grandma called.

I walked over to the sink and burst into tears, “Grandma you are drowning the little fairy,” I cried.

Grandma looked at the pear, perplexed.

“Now Sophia there’s nothing to cry about, it’s just your imagination,” she scolded.

She just would not listen. I threw myself on the floor, crying and banging my feet and throwing a full on tantrum. Grandma kept scolding me and I only got louder and louder. She could see I had no intention of calming down so she promised me I could have the pear, the one my imagination was telling her was a fairy house.

I stopped throwing my tantrum immediately and took the replacement pear from my pocket. Luckily it didn’t get damaged during my tantrum.

Grandma passed me the bucket with the freshly washed pears and I picked out the one that was a fairy house. I then gave Grandma the replacement pear, before running outside and down the back to the pear tree.

The fairies were all hovering anxiously, waiting to find out the fate of their friend.

I waved the pear around, yelling, “I saved it, I saved your friend.”

I stopped running once I got to the pear tree, asking, “what do I do with it now?”

Handsome flew down to me and asked me to place it under the tree. He explained the fairy will come out once she settles down but unfortunately her house is no longer any good, now it’s been picked. Sadly she will have to carve another one but at least she is alive.

They all thanked me for being a fairy’s best friend. I smiled and said my goodbyes.

I entered the kitchen and helped Grandma bake the cake. Just as we were taking it out of the oven, Mum and Dad arrived to pick me up.

As we were leaving, Grandma said, “Sophia threw a huge tantrum today over an imaginary fairy living in a pear. I’ve not seen Sophia throw a tantrum for quite some time. Just thought I’d let you know in case there’s something bothering Sophia.”

Both Mum and Dad turned to look at me but I gave them a large smile. A ‘butter wouldn’t melt in my mouth’ smile and they let it be. We jumped into the car and headed home, me with the pear and carrot cake safely my lap.

**********************************************************************

If you liked my writing, please click on the small heart underneath, near my name. Or send me a tip and let me know you enjoyed it.

****

Please click the link below my name to read more of my work. I would also like to thank you for taking the time to read this today and for all your support.

If you enjoy this piece, you may enjoy this one too.