By Glen L. Bledsoe
"Emma, are you eating in bed again?" her mother yelled from the kitchen.
"No, Mama," she said hastily shoving an unfinished tangerine under her blankets. "Thomas," she whispered, "Hide it." Thomas also pushed his food under the blankets.
Their father opened the door to their bedroom. "Two pieces of fruit are missing from the plate in the kitchen. Do either of you know anvthing about that?"
"No, Papa," Emma lied.
"You are welcome to have it, but please eat it at the table. And whatever you do, don't swallow the seeds. Tangerine men will grow inside of you and crawl out of your mouth during the night."
Emma shivered, felt with her hand under the blanket and pushed the tangerine deeper under her covers. "We would never do such a thing, Papa." But she had. Both she and her brother had swallowed seeds when they were startled by their mother's call.
At the stroke of midnight Emma woke to a sound. She opened her eyes to see her brother crawling into the terrarium they kept on their nightstand. More frighteningly she saw the tangerine men and tangerine roots growing in their beds. Her brother was trying to hide, but there was no room for Emma in the glass box. She backed herself against the wall.
The tangerine men, however, showed no interest in Emma or her brother. They stood from the beds, gathered their roots and left the bedroom through the door.
Emma and her brother never swallowed tangerine seeds again. And they only ate food at the table.
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