the fruit forest

the fruit forest

by: kelly shaw willman

illustrations: Marissa Arterberry

project copyright: 2013-forever

please contact: kellyshawbianca@gmail.com 
for permission to share/re-publish.

* * * 
thank you to the eleven real life women who volunteered their energy to the development of this project ~ each became a warrior in this story, and each chose their own warrior name. 

* * *  

atop a cliff that overlooked a quaintly roaring teal ocean, were eleven square miles of land belonging to ruby edwina, a woman whose skin was purple and her eyes the color of blueberries. 

ruby edwina

ruby shared this land with hundreds of fruit trees, bushes, and vines. fruits from all over the world grew together in one place. it didn’t matter if the climate wasn’t ideal for one fruit or another ~ it grew anyway; there was something especially nurturing about the sandy soil.

 

a different woman tended each square mile of ruby’s land. the women referred to their paradise as, the fruit forest, simply. each woman had a story, a lost love, and a favorite dress or seventeen. 

 

a woman called dirtstomper was the first to show up at ruby’s fruit forest. she’d been working for some time on a boat, and needed a steady place to plant her feet. dirtstomper’s special gifts included growing root vegetables, making music, and reading palms, though she took to harvesting fruits quite naturally. dirtstomper laughed a lot, a laugh so silly and loud, that sometimes it caused apricots to fall off the branch! 

 

dirtstomper

one day, while paying close attention to some ripening persimmons, dirtstomper heard a creature clamoring about near the pear trees. it was probably just a baby fox, thought miss dirt, but hmmm ... the sounds kept getting louder, and was that a sneeze? a rather loud sneeze? pears don’t sneeze!

dirtstomper did not feel afraid. she and ruby regularly cast spells (using amber stones and lavender flowers) that kept only goodness growing and scary trespassers at bay, so … who could be sneezing? just then, a pretty little lady with a necklace made of small glass horses stepped out from the pear trees.

littlegoldenhorse

 instead of a hello, the woman who’d emerged from the pears looked at dirtstomper and neighed a few times, quiet little neighs. dirtstomper let out one of her infamous belly laughs and moved towards the woman, who’d begun to speak: "i had a dream last night about the fruit forest. three little bluejays lead me here today. i’d like to meet ruby edwina, please."

the rest is quite simple, really. dirtstomper took the new girl, named littlegoldenhorse, to ruby’s field of strawberries. a brief conversation ensued wherein ruby learned that littlegoldenhorse’s gift was speaking to animals. the new girl also was a master at styling hair and make-up ~ seemed that a funky fashion show in the fruit forest was inevitable.

... and so, this is how it would go. over the course of a few months, a new woman would arrive (when her time was right) at the fruit forest. as aforementioned, ruby, little by little, was able to designate a portion of land to each woman. each grew her own herbs, her own food, and tended to the fruits that were already there. the women made jams, salves, juices, facials, bubble bath, jewelry, muffins, and popsicles out of the fruit that grew and grew and grew and grew and never stopped growing. they shipped their goods off, and made + saved money.

esmerelda and daisy

so now, let us meet all the ladies of the fruit forest, and paint a story with sweet scenes. esmerelda and her little pup, daisy, specialized in growing grapes and saving kittens. every evening, as the sun set, esmerelda and daisy could be seen sitting at the fruit forest's highest point, throwing grapes into the mouths of hungry clouds.

and princess parsleythunder coaxed the rain to come when the fruit forest was too dry. princess also had a special touch with pomegranates ~ she kept them growing plentifully year-round, each batch more juicy than the last.

princess parsleythunder

and goodness, there was strongbird, whose flight-song was inspired by sparkling red raspberries. her dancing smelled like watermelons, her breath breathed stories of prehistoric flying creatures, and her ability to break down the toughest bundles of thorns matched esmerelda's. both strongbird and esmerelda peeked their heads bravely above adversity, and worked all the harder for it. 

strongbird

   

and welcome to the fruit forest, khadejah, who'd ridden into view on a larger-than-life bunny, her spirit animal and b/f/f. khadejah could really work it ~ she kept the ladies entertained with her booty shakes and made some bomb bikinis. she kept a close eye on the coconuts and pineapples, thank goodness.

khadejah

   

okay, now close your eyes and count to eleven. really, go ahead. ... and now you're ready for queen inannamama, who was personally delivered to the fruit forest by a ray of sunshine, for real ~ a glowing yellow ray enveloped her body and set her down gently amongst guanabana and mangoes. it was a surreal and giggle-worthy scene for the other ladies who'd arrived before the queen. can you imagine? … in the midst of harvesting fruits, here is this voluptuous darling touching down from the heavens to join your posse. you might want to close your eyes and count to eleven again ~ imagine it!

queen inannamama

we have next, the adoringly gentle momma-do-shine, who'd envisioned a life for herself that was pure-eyed and centered. new baby in stow, momma-do-shine worked with vigor amongst all forms of citrus. her skin always smelled of oranges and cinnamon, and her baby's eyes were milky, telling. momma-do-shine spent plenty of time sitting at the foot of trees (getting re-grounded) as well as at the shore of the ocean, with whom she regularly chatted.

 

momma-do-shine

... and the last two women of the fruit forest arrived just moments apart on the same drizzly morning. princess parsleythunder had summoned gentle rains through the early afternoon on this particular day, because the sun had been very strong for awhile.
 

beehand

  

beehand swam to the shore of the fruit forest from a neighboring island, where she'd slept the night before. she noted right away that the air smelled of dampened lilacs. she stood up straight, breathed it in deeply, and plucked a straggler baby octopus from her foot. she placed the creature back into its ocean-home. the smell of lilacs grew stronger; it tickled beehand's nostrils. as if lead by some swift breeze, beehand followed the lilac aroma to a sprawl of peach trees, where all nine women were waiting for her. the rain was light, and so was the mood.

but before beehand could introduce herself, the earth beneath the peach trees began to rumble. the rumbling wasn't terribly intense ~ it didn't knock anybody over, but it surely surprised everyone. the rumbling was steady for about two minutes, and then, amidst drops of rain, downdowndown came metallic gold tinsel ~ short bits of it, longer bits of it, bits that soon enough covered the rumbling ground of the peach grove. 

 

indigo pannonica

a lime green fawn had been summoned to the scene by littlegoldenhorse. the fawn placed her nose to the ground, shook herself off, then stepped back … and from a small crack in the ground appeared a colorful glowing woman named, indigo pannonica. the women collectively smiled. there were now eleven in their posse, and it felt right, whole.

the women each took a moment to examine the scene: light drops of rain, the scent of lilacs, the shimmer of gold tinsel, a lil' green fawn, the sigh of the ocean in the distance … the women began to giggle at their strange magic ~ no one needed to say much. beehand was given the peach grove to work and indigo would focus on blackberries and papaya. 

 

once freed of rain, the afternoon was the perfect time for the women to prance around in their new fluorescent bikinis from khadejah. littlegoldenhorse styled everyone's hair into a fierce up*do and painted their faces with stripes and gloss. the posse enjoyed some fresh guava juice, then ventured to their favorite stretch of beach. 

 

one by one, the women dipped their toes into the tide, but something felt bizarre. there was lots of splashing just a yard from their little feets, and upon closer examination, it seemed that hundreds of baby sharks were the stirrers of the water. slippery little bodies, gray and silver, hundreds of baby sharks. 

 

and in the distance ... was that? ... could it be? a parade of baby tigers marched atop the water towards the sharks, towards the shore. bikini-clad & in warrior-spirit, the women stood side by side, examining the scene in slight disbelief. surprisingly, things grew even more peculiar. about five yards out, a wall of mother sharks (in a line mirroring the women) stuck their shimmering noses above the water, a gesture that meant, “we are on your side, and keep watching, you'll see.”

baby sharks, baby tigers, mother sharks, and a wait that felt too thick ~ what was coming for them and why, wondered the women. ruby edwina began to giggle quietly, dirtstomper started humming a song, littlegoldenhorse summoned a swarm of butterflies, esmerelda nonchalantly made a sandcastle, princess parsleythunder pulled rubies from her pockets, strongbird stirred up the scent of watermelons, khadejah whistled for her giant bunny, queen inannamama painted her nails, momma-do-shine wove a shield, beehand dripped honey from her fingers, and indigo pannonica whirled her rainbow lasso confidently.

the mother sharks stuck their noses even higher up, the baby sharks wriggled more wildly, and above the heads of the women now floated dozens of baby tigers. at first, the baby tigers purred and played. then, they came together in a giant snuggle, growled, and turned into a poof a pastel smoke. from the pastel smoke fell packets of wildflower seeds and glittering emeralds. the women noticed that the baby sharks had swum to their moms, and so, ruby edwina made a pile of their goodies, and looked to the women, who took a collective big breath in and out ... and entered the salty warm water.

it is what it is, it was what it was, always a bundle of magic somewhere. the women understood that they possessed the power to experience great beauty, to make great beauty, to come together and thrive. eleven ladies swam until dusk, dried near a fire, and dreamed that night about orange mountains vibrating as brightly as their blood.