A long, very longtime ago, in a place very far from here, where all sort of tropical fruits grew in abundance, from very bright red tomatoes to the sweetest pineapples one could imagine, as well as all kinds of juicy melons, and where strawberries were as big as a yummy tennis ball, lived a girl and a boy who loved watermelons.

And the watermelons in this land were magical! Yes, magical! Before you opened them, you could decide which flavor they would be. You could imagine them to taste like chocolate, like vanilla or like cream, and when you opened them they would have turned into the most flavorful watermelon in the whole world… tasting like chocolate, vanilla or cream, of course, exactly whichever flavor each person had desired deep in their hearts.

No wonder their favorite fruit was watermelon. On top of it, as the climate in that valley was so nice and warm that you didn’t need to wear a coat in winter, watermelons were harvested all year round. Some of them were so big that people couldn’t take them home and they had to be eaten right on the fields, so these kids loved going to the countryside with their parents on weekends, and even in school days, if they had finished their homework with plenty of time to spare.

Oh, I think I forgot to introduce them to you! Oops, my bad, I’m so absentminded sometimes! Ok, she was the younger of the two, and her name was Avila, and her brother, who loved her very much and always watched out for her, was Aero. When they were together and met other children for the first time, they always said at the same time “hi, we are A&A”, and all burst into laughing until their tummies hurt.

One day, after eating so much chocolate watermelon that he felt he was as round as the watermelon he just ate, Aero saw something a bit strange on a tree close to their grandparents’ farm, where they had come for a day visit. He couldn’t figure out how come he had missed it until now, because it was a big tree, from which a sort of unappetizing pear hanged — so wrinkled as if it was sick.

“Look,” he told his Little sister, “can you see the fruits hanging from that tree over there, close to the garden? They look like wrinkled pears. They don’t look appetizing at all.” Avila said right away: “there’s only one way to find out, don’t you think? Let’s try one of them, maybe it will taste like heaven.” And, curious about what they were going to taste for the first time, they went to the tree and took one of these strange pears. “It’s even more wrinkled than grandpa’s face,” said Aero. “Yes,” said Avila who, without further ado, bit into it “Ewwww! They are not edible.” “Or maybe they need to be peeled like oranges,” said Aero. “Let’s ask grandpa to peel it for us.”

They went to their grandfather and said: “Look, grandpa, what we’ve seen on the tree by the garden. It looks like a fruit, but you cannot eat it.” Their grandfather smiled and answered: “of course, this is an avocado, and you have to open it to eat it. “Peel it for us, please,” said Avila and Aero together. “Peel it for us, please,” they repeated. Their grandfather took a pocket knife he always had with him, but he didn’t peel it like an orange, but instead cut it around and opened it. Both children looked in awe: inside, there was a ball, almost black and quite big indeed. In fact, it was huge, nothing to do with the small seeds in watermelons or apples. “Wow, grandpa, is that big ball the seed of the avocado tree?” “Yes,” answered their grandfather. “It will grow like you and one day it will become a big tree that will give you plenty of fruit.” “What does it taste like?” asked Avila, who couldn’t wait to eat it. “You’ll know right away,” said their grandfather, always with a smile, “let’s find out.” “Is it magical, like watermelons?” asked Aero. “For some, even more,” answered their grandfather. “Let’s go in the house, because we will need a spoon to eat this fruit.” “A fruit that you eat with a spoon? How strange!” said both children, thinking that maybe grandpa was kidding, but they went with him, full or curiosity.

Grandma had seen the whole conversation through the window, so she already had two spoons for them when they came in. Avila, who was the most adventurous of both, dipped her spoon into the avocado at once and took a big chunk of it out, because the inside of the fruit was soft and creamy. Aero, more deliberate and remembering the unappealing look of the fruit from the outside, at first only carved a tiny bit of that green paste. 

Both children put their spoon in their mouth at the same time, and both were left wide-eyed with amazement. How wonderful! That green paste was as smooth and tasty as the butter their grandparents made. “Can you spread it on bread, like butter?” asked Avila. “Of course, I’m going to cut a couple of slices for you,” said grandma, who went to the kitchen and came back with two big slices of freshly baked bread. “And that’s not all, because you can eat it alone or mixed to create other dishes. You will see when you try the guacamole I’m making for dinner,” she added.

Aero and Avila were totally amazed by their grandparents’ guacamole. It was a taste worth of a fairy tale. “When I lose a tooth, I’ll ask the tooth fairy for a small avocado tree that will grow with me” said Avila. “Me too!” exclaimed Aero enthusiastically. 

After dinner, and before going back home with their parents, Avila and Aero went back to the tree and plucked an avocado to take with them. When they got home, they set it carefully around cotton in a small box and put the box in a drawer in their room. They would have to find a special occasion to eat it.

Some time passed, and Avila and Aero kept enjoying all the fruit their parents brought home every day after work: mangos, kiwis, apples, plums, oranges, mandarins, pears… and magic watermelons, of course, magic watermelons!

As Aero’s birthday approached, Avila said to him: “What do you think about celebrating your birthday with the avocado we brought home?” Aero thought it was an excellent idea: “Great! Let’s ask mom and dad to prepare a guacamole like the one we had at our grandparents.”

They went right away into their room, took the small box where they had kept their avocado out and they opened it. Oh, no! It didn’t smell well and it looked even worse than on the tree! They didn’t know what to do. They were very disappointed. Poor avocado, it had been left alone all this time, and as a consequence it was very sad!

Very carefully, they took it to the kitchen where dad was preparing dinner that day. With a sorry face, Aero said to him: “dad, look, the avocado we brought is very sad because we left it alone for a long time.” Avila added: “do you think it is upset with us?” “Of course not!” said their father, “what happened is that fruit cannot keep forever, but one has to eat it within a period of time, and some fruits keep longer than others. The same happens with many things. You will see when you grow up. “So,” said Aero, feeling much better, “it is not upset with us?” Because it was the first time he hadn’t eaten a fruit on the same day it was harvested, he was a little bit worried. “Not at all,” said his father, adding: “Who can tell me what we have learned today from our dear avocado?” “That fruit can go bad and one has to eat it right away,” said Avila. Aero, who was older, thought of it for a bit and then added: “That things have their appropriate time and you cannot wait forever?” “Very well said,” replied their mother, who had been listening to the conversation from the living room. “One must take the good things enjoy the good moments as they come, because some things don’t last forever, just like avocados.”

“Mom is so intelligent,” thought Aero.

“Mom knows when you have to eat your fruit,” thought Avila, who was the younger of the two.