Hannah and the Strawberries
by Dale Haas
High in the mountains, by a pond with a waterfall, lived Hannah and her Mama. They lived in a simple log cabin, and every day they wore matching dresses, aprons, and bonnets. Sometimes they would wear red dresses or dresses with tiny blue flowers, but no matter what dresses they wore, their aprons and bonnets were always the whitest white. On this warm summer day they wore dresses with black and white checks.
They had been waiting all summer for the strawberries to ripen. Every day Hannah would say, “Mama, can we pick the strawberries today?” and every day her Mama would say, “Not today, Sweetie; they’re not ripe enough.”
But today was different. When Hannah asked about the strawberries, Mama said, “Well, Sweetie, let’s take a look.” Hannah knew they were taking a look because the berries were ready to pick. Mama would never let them take a look until the berries were the sweetest, juiciest, and biggest that they could possibly be.
So Mama grabbed their baskets and Hannah ran as fast as her little feet would take her down to the pond’s edge, where the strawberry patch was.
Now from pretty far away, and sometimes even from close up, a strawberry patch doesn’t look very special. But if you bend down and gently pull away the leaves, you’ll find some of the most delicious things in the whole world. Mama showed Hannah how to carefully pull the leaves back and grab hold of the berries without squeezing any of the juice out. And with strawberries as ripe as these were, that was pretty hard work. But Hannah did a great job of picking the berries without getting her apron too dirty.
A much longer time went by than either of them realized when they saw that their baskets were getting full. Mama said, “Hannah, just pick three more berries and then we’ll go home and wash them up for strawberries and sugar tonight.”
Hannah couldn’t hear Mama very well because she had gone over very close to the water, and even closer to the loud waterfall. But her basket was getting ever so heavy, so she said to herself, “I’ll just set the basket down here while I pick these last few berries.”
When she sat the basket down, she didn’t notice how close to the water’s edge she and the strawberries were. So as she turned to reach for another berry, suddenly, her foot knocked the basket over and all the strawberries fell out into the pond!
“Mama!” she cried as she watched the beautiful berries sink out of sight. Mama ran over, but it was too late. Hannah, being a little girl who got upset when bad things happened, cried and cried and kept saying, “I want them back! I want them back! Mama! Help me! I can’t get them! Please! I want them back!”
Hannah was crying so loudly, it was hard for Mama to even think. But then Mama had an idea. She dumped her strawberries out on the ground (this only made Hannah more upset), grabbed both empty baskets, and started running down the hill to the bottom of the waterfall. Even though Hannah didn’t understand, she followed, crying all the way.
When Mama got to the bottom of the waterfall, she took off her shoes and walked into the water with a basket in each hand. As she went, she called, “Come on, Hannah! Help me!”
Hannah answered, “I can’t!”
Then Mama did something that I’m sure you know about. Has your Mama ever looked at you in a way that almost seems to say something. Even though you don’t hear anything with your ears, you know what she’s saying. That’s exactly what Mama did, and Hannah knew then and there that she had better take her shoes off and follow Mama right away.
By now Mama was at the bottom of the waterfall. Mama was already soaked through her apron and dress. She gave one basket to Hannah and held the other one under the waterfall so the water would run through it. Hannah did the same.
Hannah asked, “What’s going to happen?”
Mama said, “Just watch.”
For a minute nothing happened. But then they heard a dull “plop” in Hannah’s basket. She pulled it from the water and looked in – it was a strawberry! Quickly she put the basket back under the water, smiling at Mama. By then another “plop” had already sounded from Mama’s basket.
Well, then everything happened fast. Before they knew it the sound was so loud you would think they were making popcorn: “Plop, plip, plopplipplip, plop, plop.” They laughed and laughed.
Soon the sound died down to just a “plop” here and a “plip” there, until finally the last strawberry plopped into Hannah’s basket.
They waded back to the water’s edge and sat down. In their baskets were the most beautiful red strawberries, looking even more beautiful covered with cool spring water and super-clean from rushing down the waterfall.
Mama said, “See Hannah, something that you thought was terrible turned out to be something good.”
Hannah smiled. “Right!” she said. “Can we do it again?”
Mama gave her that look again. But Hannah didn’t mind.
They had supper right there by the waterfall, strawberry after strawberry until they could eat no more.
Copyright 1994 Dale Haas