The Blue Apple

[Sorry for mistakes if there are any, I'm not a native speaker.]


Once upon a time, a Boy was walking down a street on a cold autumn evening. On the roadside, near the fence surrounding the neighboring garden, he found an apple. It took him time, though, to believe it was really an apple, because it wasn’t green, red or even yellow, but bright blue, like a cloudless summer sky.

The Boy ran to his Mother to show her the apple.

‘Look, Mother, look!’ he cried happily when he found her in the kitchen.

‘What, what is it?’ The Mother asked. She had spent the whole evening washing the dishes and sat down to rest.

‘It’s an apple!’ The Boy held it out to her. ‘It’s blue!’

‘Nonsense,’ she answered. ‘There’s no such thing as blue apples. They can’t be blue. I think it’s rather green, actually. What’s so special about it?’

‘No, you don't get it,’ The boy was confused. ‘It’s blue, look, like a river!’

‘I will not look at anything, young man,’ the Mother said crossly. ‘I have many other things to do. Go outside and don’t bother me again. Or you’d better help me, the floor could do with a good mopping.’

The Boy said nothing more and went to get a mop. On his way he passed the Father’s room.

‘Father, look, I’ve found an apple, a blue one!’

The Father hardly looked away from his computer. He used to work a lot.

‘Sorry, darling, I’m very busy,’ he said. ‘What is it?’

‘An apple!’ The Boy came closer to show him what he’d found.

‘You’re blocking the screen, please take the thing away. And this is not an apple at all. There's no such thing as blue apples. This must be a plum of some sort.’

‘No, I promise, it’s an apple, a real one, I’ve found it near the garden!’

‘Don’t argue, dear, you know I don’t like arguing,’ the Father frowned. ‘Take it to your Mother,’ she’ll tell you the same. Or you’d better go and do your homework. Please don’t bother me again.’

The Boy said nothing more and left the room. He came to his Brother next. He was lying on his bed reading a magazine.

‘Look what I’ve found!’ the Boy said.

The Brother looked at him lazily.

‘What do you want?,’ he asked.

‘Look, it’s an apple, a blue one!’ the Boy said and showed it to him.

‘Yeah, right,’ the Brother snorted. ‘There’s no such thing as blue apples. I bet you just found it somewhere in the mud and painted it blue, didn’t you? It’s always you and the weird stuff you come up with. Just get lost and don’t think about going to Mother and Father with this, or you’ll get it hot and strong.’

The Boy ran away, trying really hard not to cry. He noticed a crowd of people nearby. They were arguing about something.

‘Excuse me,’ he said, coming closer. Some of them gave him annoyed looks. ‘Would you like to see what I have found?’

‘Go home, boy,’ a Man in a Grey Suit muttered. ‘Got enough to worry about without you’.

‘Please, just look!’ The Boy showed them the apple. The Man in the Grey Suit looked at it angrily.

‘And what is this anyway?’ he asked.

‘An apple! A blue apple!’

Everyone exchanged glances.

‘There is no such thing as blue apples, darling,’ said a Lady in a Black Jumper. ‘There just can’t be.’

‘You’d know that if you went to school instead of wandering about the streets,’ said an Old Lady in a Brown Dress. ‘A blue apple, what nonsense!’

‘How can there be no such thing? Here it is, can’t you see?’ the Boy asked. ‘It is a real apple! And it’s blue!’

‘This is not an apple, alright,’ said an Old Man in a Mossy Coat. ‘Well, at least not a blue one. Maybe it just looks blue in the dark.’

‘Or it is in fact a shade of green,’ the Lady said.

‘Maybe it’s a toy?’ the Man asked.

‘You brought it here to play a trick on us, didn’t you?’ the Old Lady wagged her finger at him. ‘Shame on you!’

‘A blue apple, my foot!’

‘Did you steal it somewhere?’

‘Didn’t you parents tell you it’s bad to steal things?’

‘A man to be!’

‘What will become of you?’

‘No such thing!’

The Boy said nothing more and ran away. He ran, and ran until he reached a ravine. He threw the apple into the ravine, as far away as he could, but regretted it the moment later.

The Boy spent an hour walking around the ravine, afraid to go down. The ravine was deep and steep, maybe he wouldn’t be able to get out. And should he really get in there just for an apple? Was it worth it? What good would the apple do? Even a blue one? And was it even really blue? The Boy himself wasn’t so sure anymore. He probably just imagined it all. Surely everyone wouldn’t tell him there was no such thing if it wasn't true?

It started raining. The Boy spent a few more minutes at the ravine, and then he went home. He almost believed the apple wasn’t blue at all, but still for some reason he was very sad.

And the blue apple was there, lying in the ravine in the rain. A few days later it decayed completely and was no longer blue, but as brown as all the others. A Worm settled inside it. Every day he slowly ate his way through the apple. If someone told the Worm that his apple used to be blue once, he could even believe that, but he wouldn't really care.