The Adventures of Mr. Ant

"I have found some," Mr. Ant called down to Bill.

"Be sure to get only the ripe ones," Bill yelled.

"Right, but how do I tell if they are ripe?" Mr. Ant asked.

Although everyone says that turtles are slow at everything they do, Bill thought very fast. "I can't remember if it is the orange ones or the green ones," he said. "Maybe you should just bite one to see. Start with that big green one next to you."

It was hard for Bill to not laugh out loud. "This is a good trick to pull upon Mr. Ant," he thought as he watched Mr. Ant crawl out to the green persimmon.

Now if you have ever bit a green persimmon you will never forget the taste and you will understand why Bill was about to laugh. Unknowingly, Mr. Ant got into position on the persimmon. He opened his mouth and took a big bite. Never had Mr. Ant tasted anything so sour! It made his whole face pucker.

"MI mon't mhink mhat mhis mone mis mipe!" he managed to say as he looked at Bill. Then he noticed that Bill was laughing!

"HAW HAW HAW HEE HEE HEE HO HO HO!" Bill laughed. "Was that, haw haw haw, a little bit sour!" he cried. He laughed so hard that tears began to run from his eyes.

"You knew that would be sour," said Mr. Ant after his face had stopped puckering. Bill had tricked him! Bill knew that the green ones were sour.

Mr. Ant said to himself, "I will get him back!" Mr. Ant was not mad. He liked to play tricks on others also. He was a bit surprised at how easily Bill had tricked him. He filed this event into his memory to be used in the future on someone. And use it he will!

"Oh, now I remember, it's the orange ones that are ripe," said Bill still chuckling.

"Oh, now you remember!" said Mr. Ant with a bit of sarcasm. "Maybe you would like to taste one, you know, just to be sure?"

"NOPE!" said Bill. "Just toss me one of those orange ones, please."

Mr. Ant went from one to another. It seemed that he was looking for something. Bill began to get curious.

"What's taking you so long," he asked?

"Oh I just want the best one for you," Mr. Ant replied. And he kept looking. Finally he stopped. He started to bite the part of the persimmon where it was attached to the limb. When he had it almost loose he hollered at Bill. "Here's you a good one!" One more bite and it fell down toward Bill. Now it became apparent what Mr. Ant had been doing. Straight toward Bill's upturned face. SPLAT! Right on Bill's face the persimmon landed. "Oh, I am SO sorry about that, Bill!" said Mr. Ant.

"Oh sure, I bet that you are," said Bill. "By the way, nice shot!" Here came some more persimmons. Thump! Thump! Thump! "How are you going to get down," Bill asked?

To Bill's amazement Mr. Ant stuck his head out of the last persimmon. "I'm already down," he said. "But I learned something. I learned that you do not stand on the persimmon that you are biting off the tree. Because when you do, it will fall with you on it! Thankfully the persimmon was very ripe and very soft. It made a nice place to land; however, now I will need to take a bath to clean off this stuff. But first I will eat my breakfast." Bill did not say anything; he had already started breakfast. Mr. Ant began to eat also. “If strawberries are better than persimmons, they must be real good!” he thought.