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.
