Hyda fiddled with her porridge.
Usually she liked it, the warm creamy concoction with sliced bananas and mashed dates. But today she was distracted. She stared at a heap of tiny porcupine-looking fruits her mom had kept on the table. She didn't know what lychees were but overheard her mother appreciating the experience of eating them. Her mother was telling her aunt how she would wash and peel them and cool them off in the fridge. Then later when her aunt came after work, they would bite into the succulent sweet flesh of the fruit.
Hyda's mother could be quite vivid but Hyda herself was not convinced.
From the outside, she thought that these prickly peels could only be housing a small sleeping animal. But she picked one and dug her little fingernails into the thorny covering and ripped it a little. But the peel snapped back. She had not expected it to be magnetic. She tried again. This time she gripped the fruit tighter and ripped open a larger part. She saw what her mom was talking about...a juicy tender flesh that looked like the marble flooring of her uncle's house...if it was laid on a water bed. It was quite fascinating. But something glowed inside the white flesh. It reminded her of the time her cousin was caught reading under the blanket because her aunt could see the flashlight from outside. Hyda picked up the fruit and looked closer. It seemed to be a tiny gate or steps or something. There seemed to be large plants and lots of pretty lights.
Did the lychee flesh hide a place?
She looked away for a second to call her mom. But just as suddenly, the peel wrapped itself around the fruit and snapped it back shut.
Hyda would just have to wait and see how her mother peeled these things.
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