A SOUR CHERRY once was really disappointed that he could not find friends to hang out with. The other fruit and vegetables of the garden avoided him, as they considered him ‘sour’, and would rather hang out with his cousins, the sweet cherries. “We can’t stand sour cherries”, they poked fun at him and turned their backs every time he showed up.

Having tried many times then, he decided to leave and go to another country. “I will be truly be a stranger there at least”, he thought. So he took a big bag, stuffed all his belongings in it, then closed it tight and took the first airplane. Before leaving, he only said goodbye to his cousins, the sweet cherries.

   As the sweet cherries were really sorry to hear the bad news, they headed to the airport to change his mind. “Everybody thinks me sour and wants me gone”, he cried. “But we want you to stay!”, they explained to him, but the sour cherry would not listen. So he got on the first plane and left the country for good.

   Sorry to hear their cousin had left, the sweet cherries gathered very single fruit and vegetable in the garden and made a big announcement: “Our cousin the sour cherry had to leave the garden because none of you wants his company. We miss him however, and will go sour, too, unless he comes back!”.

   The other fruit and vegetables of the garden were really sad to hear the news. So they came to terms with the fact that they had gone too far, and came up with a way to bring him back: they wrote a letter, in which they apologized and explained that they were already missing him much.

   As soon as the sour cherry opened the letter and read it, tears started flowing from his eyes. “We want you to know that we miss your company, and if you really want, you can be even sweeter than your cousins, the sweet cherries”, they wrote to him. So he packed his bags again and headed back.

   A whole committee of fruit and vegetables waited for him at the airport, who welcomed him back with great honors, trumpets and drum beats. Since that time, there has never been a single fruit to call him ‘sour’.