The Adventures of Keiko Haubjed

Starring Keiko in

Jabuticaba

By Tsunami_Holmes

12-year-old Keiko snored as the soccer game rolled on. She didn't want to be there. No, she wanted to be exploring, or reading, or something fun! But her family loved soccer, everyone except her. That's why they were in Brazil, because Brazil was famous for soccer. Keiko had agreed for the family to go to Brazil, even though she knew that they would spent most of their time watching live soccer games. She tried to like soccer, but it was too boring for her. She enjoyed adventures and hiking more. She loved to examine plants and animals and have her mom or dad tell her all about them. Her parents weren't scientists, but they had many friends who were. So Keiko knew all about science and loved that too. She was thinking about being a scientist. A sudden rumbling of the bleachers she was sleeping on woke her with a jolt. She sat up, on alert. The crowd was cheering madly, excited screams pierced the air. As she peered around, she realized what was jostling the metal bench, they were doing the wave. It was coming nearer, then her family on either side of her stood up in perfect unison with the wave. Keiko didn't stand. She was too tired. It was hot out and late.

"Keiko, are you alright? You seem down," her mother, Veronica, leaned closer.

"I'm fine," Keiko murmured groggily, "just, tired."

"Ah, well, it's time to go anyways. I'm sure that dad will take you around the rental house's property tomorrow, right honey?" Veronica turned to Keiko's father, Ben. He was jumping up and down, fists punching the air above him and cheering.

"Honey?" Veronica called louder.

Ben stopped jumping and peered down, "yes?"

"Will you take Keiko out on a small hike tomorrow?" Veronica urged, "she might be interested in something on the property."

"Like what?" Ben inquired.

Veronica just smiled and made a weird gesture with her hands.

Ben nodded, "of course. She would definitely enjoy that."

Keiko glanced from mother to father, "enjoy what?"

"Oh, you'll see. It's really a visual thing," Veronica replied.

The next day, Ben was waiting for Keiko at the front door of their small rental house. It was a very nice house, but Keiko guessed that it was designed for two or three people rather than four. She had to sleep with her noisy little brother, Dean.

"Are you ready?" Keiko's father asked.

"I think," Keiko checked herself, she was prepared for a hike.

"Camera?" Ben asked.

"Check," Keiko ashurred.

"Good, come on then, it's not to far from here," Ben headed out the door, Keiko followed. It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining bright, the leaves on the trees swayed with the wind, the birds were even singing. Soon, Ben lead Keiko through an old iron gate to reveal a small clearing. In the center of the clearing was what appeared to be an infected tree. It had small, dark purple, three to four centimeter balls growing all over it's trunk.

"What happened to it?" Keiko asked.

"Well, it's more of a 'what is it'. Nothing really happened to it. I grows like this," Keiko's father explained.

"You mean, those purple things aren't a disease or something?" Keiko questioned, impressed.

"Nope! It's an evergreen called a Brazilian Grape Tree or a 'Jabuticaba', meaning 'tortoise place'."

"Tortoise?" Keiko asked.

"Yes. Tortoises and other less agile animals love the fruits because they can reach them as they grow near the ground and high up. So 'Tortoise Place' is a good name for it because you may find tortoises hanging around one of the trees! But even though there aren't any tortoises right now as I can tell, that's a good thing. Because we have the tree to ourselves,"

Keiko laughed.

"Yeah, we wouldn't want any competition!" she joked.

Ben laughed too, "nope! Would you like to try one of the fruits?"

"Sure, but will we have to wash them off?" Keiko asked.

"Probably, we could bring some back to the house too, they can be made into jellies, wine, juice, or eaten raw,"

"Sounds good!" Keiko exclaimed.

"Great! I'll pick some, want to help?" Keiko's father asked.

"Of course!" Keiko and her dad walked up to the strange tree and started picking the fruits off carefully.

As they were harvesting the large orbs, Keiko piped up, "Can we grow one of these back in America?"

"We probably could since they are so adaptable, but it would take at least twenty years for it to bear fruit." Ben smiled.

"Really? Wow, yeah, let's skip it," she laughed and finished filling up her arms with fruit, I'm full, let's take these back to the house to show mom and Dean."

"Ok." They walked back to their rental house, arms full of Jabuticaba fruit.