A satirical fiction by: Ng Jan Rie and Wilson Khor W.H.

‘Hope is the first step leading to a better future’ – Matthew’s Mother Tree

Matthew was born hanging on a tree. Soon, he became a newly fresh grown apple. Life was just right, and nothing came in his way. Life was very smooth for Matthew.

But on one sunny morning, someone suddenly plucked him off from his branch and placed him in a box with many more apples. It was a traumatizing experience for Matthew to be suddenly separated from his Mother tree. Being separated from that tree was like leaving home.

He had always known that this day would eventually come, but he did not expect it to come so quickly and suddenly. He was really saddened by this. Without any way out, he reluctantly stayed in the box while having no clue to where his next destination is going to be.

At least, the apples in the box were nice to Matthew. They too were in the same situation with Matthew. The only difference however, is that the other apples had no faith or optimism.

They knew how to be good apples.

They knew too, that they need to be sweet and juicy and shiny if they want everyone to like them.

But unlike Matthew, they knew nothing about believing in things bigger than themselves, or why they should even be concerned about such things.

But Matthew is still fine with that. His Mother tree had taught him a long time ago, while he was still a little bud, that everybody has their own way of living, and he should respect that. He spent the remainder of his time in that box remembering the many things his Mother tree had taught him, even while he was getting a little dizzy from the swaying and tumbling.

Little did he know, the box was on its way to an island called Penang, located just off the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia. Upon arrival, a worker picked up the box that Matthew was in and hauled it unto a truck.

Having a bad fight with his wife just the night before, the worker was quite grumpy and had handled the box quite roughly. As a result, some of the apples rolled and fell out of the box since there was a hole near its bottom, from which Matthew could see those unlucky apples falling unto the tarmacked ground below and breaking into pieces.

“Phew, that was scary!” exclaimed Matthew, as he was very near the hole as well himself. “But things would be better from now on… right?”

He was then put into a storeroom with all the other apples, and had to stay there until another worker came to pour them out from their boxes unto a gigantic pile of apples of all kinds of size and colour. Matthew’s mouth dropped, because he has never seen so many kinds of apples—even apples that he had never seen before in his whole life—being gathered in one place!

From there, many different people came to go through the huge piles, searching for the apples that had the right size and quality they wanted. Some people were looking for big red apples. Some searched patiently for the green hard ones. There was even one weird man, who came in wearing a monocle and an elegant black suit, frantically rummaging for an apple of a certain size, weight and colour—just for some rich billionaire who would pay for it in gold.

This went on for days, with different people holding and passing Matthew from one hand to another before being placed back on the pile. Some even played with Matthew’s feelings by picking him up for a long while, before placing him back down again while giving him a strange frown. He began to feel disappointed, but he was still hopeful that someone would eventually pick him before he starts to rot.

“Turning rotten is definitely not what any apple would want. I know somebody is going to pick me soon… Life will soon be better—I know it!”

Another few more days passed, but still no one came to put Matthew into their basket. Matthew continued to remain strong and hopeful for a better life, but even the strongest and most optimistic apple could not fight against Time, so he was eventually wheelbarrowed off to another warehouse with the other not-so-young apples.

It wasn’t an easy road for him, but he still put on with it as he cannot change his destiny. The way to the warehouse was the worst trip Matthew had ever been in. The wheelbarrow was old and hard, so he was sent rolling and ended up hitting the metal walls many times. It was so terrible, his body was covered in bruises by the time he reached the warehouse.

“Ugh, it’s so painful! But I know someone will some come to fix me up. I’m sure of it!”

The warehouse was the worst place he had ever been. It was old, muddy, stinky and wet. Absolutely disgusting! Matthew really did not want to just die here but he knew that it was going to be even more difficult to be selected by one of those humans because of his ugly bruises.

He almost lost his hope of being picked but his worries were slightly abated as he saw the other apples. Their conditions were not only much worse than Matthew, but they have completely lost all hope and didn’t even try to cling on to life. It was really sad for Matthew to see so many depressed apples piled one in one place, no longer caring whether they live, rot or get infested with worms in such a horrible place.

But on the next day, workers suddenly came pouring in to check on the apples and pick the ones that were still good.

“This warehouse really sucks. Getting picked would be the best thing that has happened to me. Yeek!! I really I would like to get picked. Please, pick me—let me get outta here!!”

And this time, unlike the many times before this, luck was on Matthew’s side. A kindly old man picked him up and gently placed him into the basket, before sending him on his way to a factory. The journey along the highway was really smooth as the workers took good care of the apples and placed them in nice boxes.

He learned from the other apples along the way that they were going to be turned into apple juice—but Matthew did not really care about that. All he wanted was just to be something useful—to be something that, as his Mother tree had put it, he would find worth living for.

“If I should make lemonade from the lemons Life gives me—there‘s nothing wrong with turning myself into juice if nobody wants me as a fruit, isn’t it?” Matthew pondered to himself.

“Time to say goodbye to my old identity—from now on, I’ll have a new future!”

And just like that—in the month of January in year 2020, Matthew allowed himself to go down the gigantic machine to be juiced. The process was painful and lengthy, but he felt all the trouble was worth it when he saw his new self—now a tiny colourful carton, brimming with fresh hope, sugar, and added preservatives.

“Finally, the life I am looking for! Hope life will work itself out this time!”

The rest of his journey was a quiet and blissful one. From the moment he was reborn, he was handled carefully and gently by the workers—all the way to the supermarket that he was finally sent to. From what he could see, it was a premium supermarket that had been recently opened, and the shoppers there were all seen wearing fine clothes and even jewelry.

“Finally, I’ve reached the end. The other objects and neighbours here are all nice too,” he thought. “Living here on the aisle just makes me feel that all the things I had gone through in the past was just a horrible dream!”

But at the same time, he was also aware that he still had one last hurdle left. Juicing himself has only prolonged his lifespan, so it did not mean that he could afford to stay in this comfy place forever. He still needed to compete with all the other drinks here and get someone to finally buy him—but as of now, he knew that he could rest easy knowing that he had finally reached a good place.

“Like what Mother said, hope is really the first step to a better future,” Matthew pondered to himself thoughtfully.

“…but at the same time, I really hope that somebody would buy me within the next year or two, before my expiry date.”