Wish You Were Here

15

"Are those bananas?" Cal asked, eyeing the pile of fruit Grant had collected.

"They sure are!" he beamed.

Cal cautiously walked over and inspected the fruit, grabbing a banana. I joined her and grabbed a couple bananas and some berries and brought it to Beth. Her eyes widened as she looked up at me. She smiled brightly as I placed it in her lap, helping her find a shady spot to sit down at.

"Where'd you get all this?" Aaron asked.

Grant pointed behind himself. "Check it out."

Aaron and Will both strained to get a good look, moving closer.

"There are bananas, pineapples, oranges, blackberries...you have to see for yourself!" Grant exclaimed.

Will bounded past Grant and started grabbing at the first fruit he saw, stuffing it into his mouth. Aaron looked skeptical, but his hunger took over his doubt, and he made his way over towards some trees. Cal and I exchanged wide smiles, and she threw her hand out towards me. I grabbed her hand and giggling, we ran straight ahead.

The two of us used the hems of our shirts like baskets. We held the very bottom and then dumped handfuls of fruit into it until we were both overflowing. Finding a shady spot under an orange tree, we marveled at all that we had found. Cal popped a blueberry in her mouth.

"Mmmm." She closed her eyes. "And I don't even like blueberries that much!"

"Raspberries?" I offered.

She greedily accepted with a grin. We barely said a word, sounds of enjoyment the only audible noise coming from either of us.

"Yummmm!" I hummed at a handful of strawberries.

When we had finished we both were on our backs, stomachs full.

"I never thought I'd say this here, but I'm stuffed!" Cal groaned.

I laughed at her, then held my stomach. "Me too!"

Grant strolled over, chewing on a banana.

"So? What do you think? Wild, huh?"

"I'd get up and hug you right now," Cal groaned. "But I can't move!"

"This is incredible," I told him.

He took a seat with us. Will strolled over, with handfuls of bananas.

"How is all of this here?" he asked.

"I don't know and I don't care! It's amazing! Cal sang.

"Yeah, but look how far we walked and there was nothing. And the crap that Gina was feeding us? Why give us those stale sandwiches when this was here the whole time?" Will asked.

Grant stood up. "Yeah, I thought of that, too. Maybe they don't know this is here?"

"They know," Will argued. "There are cameras up in some of the trees over on that side."

Startled, we all looked to where Will was pointing.

"We're good right here," he assured us. "But, they know about this spot."

We all exchanged worried glances. Grant called out to Aaron while I went and helped Beth over. Once we were all there, Grant asked Will to point out the cameras.

"So if Gina and Dean know about this spot-" Grant started.

"Know about it?" Aaron scoffed. "They created it!"

"Created it?" I asked.

"Yeah," he replied. "We're in New Mexico, right? When was the last time you heard of New Mexico growing bananas, oranges, pineapples...? And all together like this? Plus, there are vegetables way over that way."