40 Angel Fruit or Banana?

The sun's small amount of light shed to them inside Malapague as it blissfully gave enough smiles to the folks who terribly experienced from the extreme cool temperature.

Inside the house, its a perfect timing when Albrecht was preparing some food for his sister but he left it for a while inside the kitchen when he saw George with his droopy shoulders and disgustingly walked like a zombie.

"Hey, you slept in the cave last night? Did he not slap you? Or..."

" I was scared of her dagger so I wasn't able to properly sleep but I just lean on the door." He sat with his sullen expression.

" Haha!" Albrecht sat by his side and wrapped his arms on his shoulder.

" She told me last day that I need to plant rainbow flowers for her and grow one significant tree, and if it bears fruit, that day would be our wedding date, she said."

"Aw! fruit? not even during the flowering stage. Gosh! that's too mean. That cruel girl." Albrecht is almost going to the cave when they heard some sound in the kitchen.

To Albrecht's surprise, Magee was in uniform and used her hand in eating instead of using spoon and pretended they're not around.

George grabbed his arms and they returned and sat back at the receiving area.

"Shh...don't say anything. Whatever you comment would bounce back to me. Better keep quiet if its all about - us."

" Oh boy!"

" I'll start planting flowers before I take a bath and kindly give me a seedling of a fruit-bearing tree."

"Ask it to Baldur, he's good in planting trees and helped Dad in planting those flowers around. Anyway, I'm speechless, I don't know anymore." Then Albrecht put his hands over head and nodded.

"It's just a month. I'll still wait for my tree to bear a fruit, haha, bye! I'll never waste my time, I'll start farming now." Then George smirked, went out, instructed Albrecht to lock the door and he searched for Baldur who was then checking the new occupants around.

"Hey George, what's up?"

" I'll talk straight, help me find a fruit-bearing tree seedling now, I'll plant."

" Haha, why such...hmm, okay! let's select among that bears the earliest, c'mon! I'll show you the mini nursery." Baldur still turned his head on him while they're heading to the mini-nursery.

" Don't annoy me with that look, haha! Don't ask me any word relating to it, this is strictly for no interviews!"

" Ah, ha, yeah!"

"Oh here we are. These are the trees that grows healthily here, they loved the cool temperature with a little sunlight. Hmm, from the top we have lanzones, rambutan..." Baldur enumerated a list of it but George intervened him.

"Brother, the earliest...to bear fruits, lead me to it."

" Ah, yeah, but..." I'm thinking of a banana, hmm."

" How many months or year does it usually give us fruit."

" Hmm...around five to six months. I'm just confused if its really a tree." Baldur rubbed his face.

" But if its really a tree, its impressively in a shorter period." George insist.

" So will you guide me where to get them, at least 10 if its available. I'll plant them right away."

" I'll go alone, just stay and wait here, I'll separate them first from the mother plants." Baldur left him pondering.

" Is banana, a tree?"

An hour after Baldur returned and brought all of the ten banana shoots on his arms.

"Its here. I'll show you where to plant them where it will grow healthy." They walked on a slopy part of the area, crossing a daffodil then they stopped.

" So, its on this spot?" George asked.

" Oh, yes it on this part where the sunlight goes straight and there's water flowing that serves its drainage.

" Thanks brother." He smiled.

" I don't know about this but hey, I need to go back to the house for a while and get some towel." Baldur said then walked toward the house.

Then Baldur hurriedly went back to the house and immediately looked for Albrecht, who was then sitting at the kitchen.

" Albrecht, do you know what's happening?"

" Ask me anything."

" About this planting issue."

"Ah, sure. Its our sister's added agreement with him that he has to plant a tree then set of rainbow flowers here before they'll get married. At least the tree must bear a fruit first, before wedding date. Its as easy as that."

" Gotcha! that's why, I see. So this is part of 'pamanhikan stage,' though her ways is more longer. She really followed the traditional process of settling down, despite the absence of elders and war." Baldur whispered.

" I partly think of it too and thought its of no use considering its wartime."

"Hmm...but its part of the local tradition here that we must respect as a family.

"But I'm just...just, ha! the war! planting, watering and caressing of these plants need George, the head of the soldiers himself, right? Does it mean he has to stay here to take care of those. How about her safety!" Albrecht was a bit heightened.

" Calm down. I'll go and talk to her."

"She's inside our room, sewing."

"knock knock!" Baldur knocked on the door thrice before he opened it.

"Hey Baldur, come!" She smiled.

"Hmm...we're planting trees with the people now because it rained successively, I'm just a bit tired so I'm getting my towel back here. We still have lots of banana tree to plant for our survival here. This war is so taxing!"

"Hmm brother, banana isn't a tree, its technically a herbaceous plant, a herb because it has no woody tissue and botanically speaking its a berry and not a tree. Better you plant the 'sinta' angel fruits (papaya). They grow easily but will take 8-9 months to bear fruits but its nutritious. She smiled and bite the thread.

" Ah, that's a good suggestion. He slowly grabbed his towel then when he stepped out of the house, he ran towards George."

" Brother! let's terminate planting that one, I've got a source tellin' me that banana isn't a tree but angel fruit is a bit acceptable over it."

" We'll be wasting a lot of it." George sighed.

"No, don't worry, I'll tell some from our team to plant all of these somewhere ."

Without much delay, Baldur took some ten papaya sprouts from the nursery and handed to him.

" Brother, how's the distance between them?"

" Hmm, around two meter distance. George, after you plant all of these today. Be sure to water them, every two days and if they grow taller approximately 24 inches - months from now, just water them twice a week to sustain its growth until flowering stage. During rainy season, push the soil closer to its main body so that the lower part around it will serve as its drainage. They hate too much water.

" Copy." George reassured with sweats flowing from his neck and forehead.

After a couple of minutes, he's done planting and immediately watered them.

He was not contented yet but sought another guidance from Baldur if on how to plant a white daisy.

"The white daisy is rare. In fact, we only have five mother plants and they're really sensitive. You cannot just easily separate the young runner from the mother plant. If you are interested at it, go kneel, bend your body and carefully look at the bottom part and meticulously pull and discord them. Likewise, be sure that you selected a young runner with roots below it. Better use a knife in doing that and get a proper sleep to get a good eyesight."

From afar, Magee was looking and smiled to him with bended body and carefully transfered the new runners to another area. Henry approached him to help but he seemed signaled that he can do it by himself.

Note: Editing to all chapters are in progress