The Pumpkin Seed

Have you ever eaten a pumpkin seed? Poor little Areesha has to shell hundreds and hundreds of seeds every single day, but she must be careful to obey The Rule: she is not allowed to eat a single seed. At the end of each working day, she returns to her tiny room, eats her Puff Loaf, drinks her Grip Drip, and goes to sleep, cold and alone. The next day, she has to shell hundreds of seeds all over again.
One day, she is so hungry that she breaks The Rule. She puts a pumpkin seed in her mouth, chews it, swallows it and enjoys the warm, nutty taste. A short while later, Areesha is filled with horror as she sees that she is turning into a pumpkin plant…

Dariush Alavi is a writer currently living in the south of England. His short stories for adults have appeared on BBC Radio 4, Pulp.net and at London’s Tales Of The Decongested. For more information, please visit:

www.dariushalavi.com.

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