The Crumbly Castle and the Berry Brigade

Lily loved chocolate. She loved chocolate stars, chocolate moons, chocolate houses… everything chocolate! One sunny afternoon, Lily ate a mountain of chocolate buttons. They tasted like tiny, sweet clouds melting on her tongue. But instead of running and playing, Lily felt heavy.

That evening, as Lily drifted off to sleep, her playhouse in the garden began to crackle. Not with leaves, but with…chocolate! The wooden walls turned crumbly, the roof became a giant chocolate bar, and the windows were gooey caramel. It looked delicious, but the whole playhouse was slowly sinking into the earth, overwhelmed by its own sweetness.

Lily woke up and gasped. Her beloved playhouse was a chocolate disaster! She tried to push against the crumbly walls, but they crumbled even faster in her hands.

Suddenly, from the nearby berry bushes, a tiny army marched forward. They were the Berry Brigade - plump blueberries, rosy raspberries, and juicy strawberries, all glowing like tiny lanterns.

The Berry Brigade began pushing back against the encroaching chocolate. The blueberries rolled and wedged themselves into the cracks, the raspberries plumped up the sagging walls, and the strawberries supported the caramel roof. It was a tough battle, with bits of chocolate showering the ground like rain.

Lily watched, fascinated. She knew she had to help. Remembering her mom's colourful fruit salad from breakfast, she picked a handful of strawberries and started placing them along the edges of the playhouse. The playhouse stopped sinking. It began to solidify. The crumbling slowed.

Finally, with the help of the Berry Brigade and Lily’s strawberries, the chocolate stopped crumbling. The playhouse wasn’t entirely wooden again, but it was sturdy, with bright berry accents. That night, Lily dreamed of playing in her partly-chocolate, mostly-berry playhouse, and she woke up wanting a piece of fruit more than a piece of chocolate. From then on, she enjoyed her chocolate treats, but she always made sure to have a little berry brigade nearby.