Story 3 Searching for the best pineapple in the world

Searching for the best pineapple in the world

Super IV was thinking over and over on how to tell her story.

After making up her mind, Super IV began: “You all know that I love pineapple. I also want to prepare the best sweet and sour pork with pineapples for you. Because of this, I need to find the best pineapples in the world.” She continued and said: “Last Sunday, I went to the wet market and asked Lady Vegetable on where I could find the best pineapples.”

Lady Vegetable said: “You must walk straight and look for the “Paradise of Pineapples”.’

No. 8 was curious and asked:

‘We’ve only heard of the “Paradise of Peach Blossoms”. I didn’t know there was also a “Paradise of Pineapples”!’

Super IV replied:

‘You’re right, I haven’t heard of it either. This pineapple’s important though; I want to make the best sweet and sour pork for you all!’

And so Super IV grabbed her backpack and began her journey to the Paradise of Pineapples.

‘I walked and walked and for hours, I couldn’t see anything except for trees along the road. It was only until I travelled for another hour that I finally found a small grocery store. It’s so hot outside so I thought to myself that I should get a soft drink.’

‘It’s weird though. There was nothing inside the grocery store except for an old lady in a hot-dog costume. They weren’t selling any snacks or drinks in the store apart from a plate of sausages with pineapples on the table.’

’I was so thirsty and hungry that I nearly started chewing on the legs of the table.’

Everyone couldn’t help but laugh because of Super IV’s sense of humour.

Super IV continued: ‘Wen I couldn’t figure out how to find “Paradise of Pineapples”, I had quite a gloomy look.’ ‘When the old lady in the store saw me worrying she began speaking to me: “Hey kid, I’m the Sausage Po Po. What’s wrong?”’

Super IV replied: ’I want to find the most delicious pineapple in the world but I have no idea where to find it.’

Sausage Po Po whispered: ‘Are you looking for “Paradise of Pineapples” ?’

Super IV was surprised: ‘You know where it is? ‘

‘it’s your lucky day today.’

Super IV glanced at Sausage Po Po but couldn’t figure out what she meant.

Sausage Po Po continued:

‘Didn’t you know that sausages and pineapples have been best friends for many years?’ She then began taking a pack of sausages from the bottom of the table and placed it onto her chest. Super IV asked what she is doing.

Sausage Po Po replied:

‘This is the key to the Paradise. Do you want to go there? Come and have a look.’

Sausage Po Po opened her arms and waited for Super IV.

With a face of doubt, Super IV walked towards her. Sausage Po Po held her into her arms.

All of a sudden Super IV fell into a sea of black. It seemed as though only a few seconds have passed, but as she opened her eyes, a strong scent of pineapple filled the air. A pineapple-shaped entrance laid before her and on the top of it, there laid an engraving: “Paradise of Pineapples”.

As Super IV walked through the Paradise, she could many there were flowers in different shapes of pineapples along the beaten path. They were all in yellow colour, with spikes and came in a variety of different forms; some were rounded, others heart shaped, while a handful where even butterfly shaped and star shaped. There was also a sign saying ‘Feel free to pick and eat’. Without a moment’s hesitation, Super IV picked up a diamond-shaped pineapple flower. She was blown away to discover that the spurs were actually not spiky, but soft. They taste liked mash mallow at all too. Super IV thinks the flower should taste liked pineapple mash mallow but it tastes liked a taste jasmine with taro finally. She picked up a few pineapple flowers, puts them into her backpack and carried on her journey.

As Super IV walked along the floral road, the scene changed completely. The ocean of flowers faded away and in its place, an office began to materialize.

The office was loaded with pineapple-shaped furniture and office equipment in various colours – the computers were lilac; the desks were light brown and the phones were red.

It was at that point that Super IV’s hunger began to overwhelm her, and she started to bite on the leg of the desks. She expected the desk would taste like pineapple but she realized what she tasted was a spicy and fragrant curry. She tried eating the red pineapple telephone and to her amusement, it tasted like strawberries. Super IV wanted to take the phone with her but she worried that she might be committing a theft. She opted instead to take a photo of the phone to show it to her friends afterwards.

She continued walking and thought to herself how she could make a truly splendid dish in this land of pineapples. She already taste-tested two different kinds of pineapples, and although they

were incredibly tasty, something was missing. After walking for a little while, she stopped in front of a deep green ocean.

Yellow fish both large and small were swimming happily and freely in the ocean. They swam gracefully and would jump out of the waters to breathe. As Super IV looked more closely however, she realized those were actually pineapple whales! She counted almost 40 in total, all breathing loudly in high and low pitches, huddling together in close formation. It seems this family of whales was particularly close.

Super IV wished she could taste the pineapple whales; however, realizing how adorable and sweet the pod of whales looked in the great ocean, she opted instead to simply observe from the shallows and admire their beauty.

The whales paid no heed to their silent observer and continued on with their swim. All of a sudden, a baby whale broke off from the pod and swam towards Super IV. It circled her for a bit, breathing in high-pitched yet gentle cries. Two spurs sprung out from the whale’s body and flew towards the sky. As they came falling back down, the two spurs suddenly transformed into two slices of pineapple. As Super IV went to fetch the pineapples, the baby whale waved its fins to Super IV and returned to his family. Super IV returned a farewell and had a bite of the pineapples. A whole plethora of flavours from the sea overwhelmed; she could pick out fish, shrimp and crab.

Super IV continued her journey. After moving what seemed to be only a few steps, the scenery changed dramatically again. As she began to feel a rough, course sensation under her feet Super IV realized she was standing in a blood-red desert. It felt as though she was standing on the belly of a dragon breathing fire, yet a chilly wind seemed to be blowing across the sands. When she peered into the horizon, she could see a dozen gold turquois snakes swimming up and down in the rolling sand dunes. She screams and runs; Super IV was terrified of snakes! But as she looked back, she realized those snakes were actually pineapple-shaped pythons.

Just when Super IV nearly lost her mind, she suddenly found herself flying in the sky. As she looked down, she realized she was sitting on a shark-sized pineapple python as it danced in the sky. Super IV was so frightened that she would slip off from its back that she held her arms tightly around its neck. In her terror, she accidentally bit its neck; the red liquid that flowed out tasted like red wine in her mouth.

The bite hurt the python and it dived head-long to the ground. As it crashed into the ground, Super IV was hurled into the air onto the hot sand, cushioning her fall as she rolled across the dunes. When she recovered from her landing, Super IV ran away from the python.

As she was running away, Super IV caught a glimpse of a Stone Arch on her left with an engraving: ‘Exit’. Her mind a mess, she immediately ran towards the arch. Inside, Super IV found herself in a dark tunnel and as she ran, a bright light slowly came into view. At the end of the tunnel stood the sausage Po Po. Relieved, Super IV couldn’t help but throw herself into Sausage Po Po‘s arms.

Sausage Po Po gently smoothed Super IV’s back and asked:

’Is everything OK? Did you find the most delicious pineapples?’

Before replying to Sausage Po Po, Super IV glanced at the clock hanging on the wall. She thought she had spent an entire day in the “Paradise of Pineapples” but in reality, she was there for merely 5 minutes. After calming down, she replied:

’I saw pineapple flowers, pineapple furniture, pineapple whales and pineapple snakes. They all tasted strangely delicious but I felt as though there was something missing. Oh by the way, I found a pineapple flower I wanted to give to you. Just to say thanks for taking me there.’

As Super IV takes the flower out of her pack however, she discovered that it has already wilted.

Super IV burst into tears. Sausage Po Po quickly comforted her and said gently:

’You can only eat these pineapples inside the Paradise. Once they leave there, they will be quickly decay. I am still so very touched that you remember me and brought this gift to me. Why don’t we bury these flowers together?’

And so they buried the pineapple flowers in the garden in front of the grocery store. Sausage Po Po smiled and said to Super IV:

‘It is getting dark soon. You should return back home. Just think over what sort of taste is missing in the pineapples that you ate in the Paradise, alright?’

Super IV waved her hands and bid the Sausage Po Po goodbye and went on her way home. After a long day’s journey, it felt as though she could barely feel half her bones. When she finally got home, she rushed into the kitchen to see if there was any food in the refrigerator. When she opened the fridge, she saw a panda-shaped lunch box there. On the cover, there was a post-it note saying:

‘Panda, we left your favorite pineapple to you.’ Signed by An B, No. 8 and Kara with love.

When she opened the lunch box, Super IV saw a few pieces of scissor-cut heart shaped pineapples. Taking a bite out of them, she quickly came to realize that these were just your ordinary pineapples – not the magical ones from the Paradise. However, the more Super IV ate, the more she realized these pineapples tasted beyond anything that could be acquired from the land of Paradise.

‘Haha, so that is what’s missing.’

As she continued eating, she could the clumsy handiwork of his friends in the lunch box; there are some pieces that looked as though they were shaped into an animal but resulted in some odd little blob.

‘Sure the Paradise pineapple was amazing, but I didn’t have anyone to share it with.’

‘This is the pineapple I am looking for.’

To Super IV, no matter how delicious the other pineapples are in the world, if you can’t share them with those you care and love, they won’t ever taste the same. Keeping this lesson in mind, Super IV concluded her story.

‘No wonder you were sobbing when you were eating the pineapple.’ Kara remarked. ‘I actually thought you had bitten your fingers’. The rest began to laugh.

An B then spoke: ‘Kara, it looks like it’s your turn.’

Kara thought for a while and began her story.

Kara’s story will be continued on Sat, 24 June 2017…