Who Bit the Peach? UFLI Foundations Lesson 88

Jane pulls Cal off the porch. 'Come on, Cal! The guava will not pick itself!' She runs across the yard. Cal is slow. 'Wait!' Cal says. 'My legs are short!' But Jane just runs. Today is guava day.

Jane and Cal run to the best tree. Cal stops. 'Jane! Look up there!' A fat guava hangs on the branch. A big chunk is missing. Teeth marks and all! 'Who,' Jane says, 'bit the guava?'

'Was it that bug?' Cal says. He shows a fat green bug eating a leaf. Jane crosses her arms. 'Cal. That bug is so small. It would eat for a long, long time to make a bite that big!' 'Maybe it eats fast?' Cal says. 'No,' Jane says. 'Next try.'

'A pixie?' Cal says. 'A pixie with sharp teeth?' 'Pixies are not real, Cal.' Cal sees a grasshopper on a branch. 'There! The grasshopper did it!' Jane sighs. 'Cal. A grasshopper eats grass. It is in the name.'

'The chicken!' Cal gasps. 'Look at that beak!' Jane is up in the tree. She grins at Cal below. 'The guava is way up high. Can the chicken fly?' They look at the chicken. It pecks the dirt. 'Three tries,' Jane says. 'No, no, no!'

The sky turns pink and the day fades, but they still can not tell who bit the guava. Cal says, 'Let us go home. We can get a guava at the shop.' But Jane's eyes go wide. 'Wait! Nothing in the yard can make a bite that big! What if it comes only at night?' Cal's face goes pale. 'Night?'

Night comes. Jane holds a blanket. 'We camp by the tree,' she says. 'We look. We wait. We catch it.' Cal sits on the step. He is sleepy. 'I hope it shows up fast. I will fall asleep!' 'Then try to stay up!' Jane says, marching into the dark.

The yard looks different in the dark. Jane's light moves over the bark. Cal sticks so close he steps on her heel. 'What if pixies are real?' Cal whispers. 'For the last time,' Jane whispers back, 'pixies are not real!' They check every branch. Every leaf. Nothing.

In the tent, Jane looks into the dark. 'It will come,' she whispers. 'It will.' Flap. Flap. Flap. Something is there. Something with big wings! Jane grabs Cal's arm. Cal's eyes are wide. 'I am afraid!'

They peek up. A dark thing with fur and wide wings hangs high on the branch. And it is taking a big bite of a guava! 'It is eating another one!' Cal gasps. 'There it is!' Jane says. 'But what is that thing?'

'It is small and furry,' Cal whispers. 'It has wings and big bright eyes.' Jane grins. 'There is only one thing that looks like that. It is a bat!' 'A bat!' Cal gasps. 'That is why it comes at night! Bats fly in the dark!'

Up in the tree, Bat hangs by his feet. His belly is full and big like a ball. Not a bug or a bird. Just a bat! And the guava is sweet. Below, their home glows in the night. Inside, two tired kids are fast asleep, dreaming of the next quest.