The curiosity of children, indelibly born in us, spiked that day when we found the patch of bunched, and well ripened coffee berries, above the cluster of Number Eleven Mango trees. Bursting with energy, these berries crowned their brush in bright red to darkening to the lush colors of over ripened mangoes. Clearly gushing with sweetness and beckoning to us, they reached out most invitingly. I looked at g-girl, serenely oldest and wisest of the four sisters, then at mischievous Oddy and finally all eyes rounded to the feisty flapsy, and then in one accord, we pounced on the trees. Our wild laughter and utterly happy recklessness soon however, came to a sudden halt, as we watched our Daddy come up crocus bag in hand, gather together loads of the fallen berries, that we'd scattered amongst the assortment of dried leaves. We looked at each other, mouths filled with satisfyingly sweet berries, lips and teeth gleaming with their stains, and joined him. Later we helped to gather zinc cans of water for washing and soaking them. Weeks later we arrived home from school and found their pulps spread to be sun dried on sheets of zinc
Author: Tesse Savage
Writer for Ovelle Coffee