
"You're so sour, I probably wouldn't want you" said the fox as he walked away from the grapes. Grapes didn't care. The fox was just bitter that she was out of reach. As the fox walked away, she slipped back in to her own little world, woven together of a delicate yarn and covered with patterns of callousness that scared away potential predators from her deepest insecurities. She had dodged stones for so long, knowing that the fox was bound to realize the undeniable truth, sooner rather than later. The grapes were out of reach.
"Bray", a rather revolting noise brought her back from her thoughts. Down below, stood an ass.
"What are you doing here?" the grapes asked propelled by a sudden infusion of contempt brought about by a realization of the fact that she was indeed unassailable.
"Can't you see that I am out of reach?"
"No" the ass blinked.
The grapes was confused. She never had to encounter that situation before. The fox was smart enough to realize that she was out of reach within a few stones but the ass was different. The ass was stupid. In fact, probably so stupid that there was a huge possibility that the ass was never going to realize the aforementioned truth.
"Whatever" thought the grapes, "He's never going to hit me."
She looked the other way, but curiosity prevailed as she looked down to see the ass, slowly and wearily, trudge all around to collect the stones that were meant for her. She smiled inside. He wasn't gonna last long. After what seemed like an eternity, and it probably was an eternity too, the ass finally had a pile of stones in front of him. And with a playing speed that would give slow motion replays a run for their money, he threw the first stone. The grapes couldn't even see where it went. His aim sucked.
As the ass repeated the above action for a second time, the grapes thought she was going to die of boredom. But throw it, he did and again, it did not even come close.
"Great marksmen never manage to hit me" the grapes announced, "Why do you even bother to try?"
The ass looked up and blinked. "I don't know", he said "I just try."
The grapes looked up in exasperation. This was going to be a long day.
And so it proved, and it did not stop there. It was followed by another long day and then another and so on till they added up to make a long week, which in turn added up to make a long month, which later formed many long months. The ass, stupid as he was, never realized that the grapes was out of reach for most creatures, let alone one with the pathetic aim and limited reach that he possessed. So he threw and threw and when the small pile in front of him had been extinguished, he again trudged around wearily till he made another one. And then he started throwing again.
The grapes by the beginning of the second week had forgotten all about the ass. He was now a part of her surroundings, just like the beehive on the next tree, which incidentally got hit by a stray stone, which incidentally caused all the bees to launch a well orchestrated offensive on the ass. He was now as constant as the hot sun that blistered on his back, day in day out, as unrelenting as the freezing nights that so cruelly numbed his every muscle, when the sun finished its shift of torture. But the ass was stupid. He never knew these things were supposed to hold you back. He never knew the laws of nature. He just wanted the grapes.
Then one fine day, when the birds were out in force singing their hearts out, every single vine in the forest swayed with a sense of tranquility and joy that characterized the whole world, the grapes at last remembered the ass. It looked down to find the ass lying there, covered with blisters, his skin pale, his bones sticking out of his skin, lying there next to a solitary stone. It was the last stone of the last pile that he was going to make. The ass then called on its last reserves of life, picked up the stone and threw it. It did not hit the grapes. In fact, it landed right next to the ass. Then unnoticed by an entire world, busy celebrating a beautiful day, it fell down and died. Unnoticed by everyone except for the grapes.
The grapes stared down at the ass for sometime pausing to find the right words to express what she now felt for the ass. And then she found the right words.
"What an idiot!"
