Breaking Barriers

Paradise For A Night

Koshi Doxter:

Being with Min was a far cry from being in the office building. We could come and go as we pleased, and the second we walked in, Min's little cottage became a madhouse. To our astonishment, Min didn't look like she regretted her decision, instead, she only smiled and whistled for us to stop. The sharp whistle made us all stop in our tracks and turned all of our attention onto her. 

"Would you children like to go play outside for a while before dinner?" She asked pleasantly as all of us shouted our approval at her very sensible idea, so back out the door we went, and maybe my ears were playing tricks on me, but I heard no sigh of relief come from her, but gosh did it feel good to run and shout in the street like we did in old times. After a few hours of running around and giggling, my stomach hurt from laughing, and my entire body was spotted with grass stains, but I've never felt more alive.

"Children, it's time to come home, my darlings!" Min called to us from her porch, "I need your help!" The ensuing stampede should've destroyed the entire street, but miraculously, we only ran over a small plant, and once us, the hoard of wild animals who'd arrived this afternoon, got back to Min's porch, she calmly held out her paw to reveal to us a cluster of little, round berries that were brilliantly red in color.

"I have a garden out back, and I'm growing some vegetables and these berries. May all of you go out back and pick a few for our supper?" She asked sweetly.

"Which ones?" Masha asked.

"Any one you'll like." Min replied kindly as she handed us a large laundry basket and a smaller picnic basket, "If you could put the vegetables in the bigger basket and the berries in the smaller basket, that'll be really helpful when it comes to sorting them out." Into the garden our little troupe went, and I was left speechless at the sight of Min's garden. Vegetables of all colors, shapes, and sizes sat in their little rows as far as the eye could see, ripe and practically begging to be picked. 

"So what vegetables does everyone want?" Masha asked with the laundry basket balanced on her hip. All of us shrugged. Honestly, anything sounded fine to me.

"Potato." Nickie piped up. OK, anything but that.

"You do realize this is actual salad with lettuce, right mate?" Squirt teased.

"Yeah." Nickie seemed indifferent.

"Are you just going to eat raw potatoes then?!"

"Yeah."

Squirt shook his head unbelieving, "You are one sick man."  The way we ended up deciding what vegetables we wanted was by taking a small stone, flicking it across the lawn, and picking the vegetables the pebble landed the closest to, if we liked it (and pretending the bell peppers didn't exist).

The berry bushes grew thick and plenty with leaves curling around its branches and protecting its treasures, but not for long. We descended upon the branch in a heartbeat and our hungry little fingers left each branch we spied bare. Curiously though, when we turned back to the basket after clearing out (almost) the entire bramble, only 3/4 of the basket was filled.

"That's odd." I remarked, "should we pick more?"

"We've already picked out most of the thing." Nastya studied the bushes intently, "And that's just cos Masha here won't let us climb that fence thingy to reach the ones up top."

"It's dangerous!" Masha snapped in her defense.

"What about these at the bottom?" Jane asked, kneeling onto the ground to get a good look at the branches closer to the bottom that were indeed, heavy with fruit. 

"Wait a sec-" Squirt turned his head, "PINTO!" Well now we knew why the berries disappeared.

"No point in getting more then. He'll just eat them." Jane muttered, giving Pinto the death glare, "Let's go back inside now." 

"Good idea." Nastya agreed and glared at Pinto for luck,who very maturely stuck his tongue out at her. Min was in the kitchen wearing an flowery apron, and smiled warmly as we walked in with two baskets mostly full of produce. For a few seconds, it didn't seem like leaving the country was imminent; for a few seconds, we were loved and cherished by a woman who would cook for us in a safe little haven tucked away in the woods. Did we really have to leave?

A/N- I know this was horrible and boring and cringy, my brain just forgot how to write, anyways. Anyone have feedback or ideas to make the story better? *hopeful face* (help me).