The Suzuki Family Slays a Giant
Once upon a time, a long time ago on Bainbridge Island, there lived a loving couple named Suzuki. The Suzuki’s had two children Lotus and Emerald. Mr. Suzuki worked every day in the garden with his wife. The two children helped their parents anyway that they could. Because they lived on an island they never strayed too far from home. The Suzuki family had a magical beast that they called the Red Giant. The Red Giant would leave his huge cave and steal from their beautiful garden. The horrible Red Giant would sometimes take the ripest vegetables from their garden and then later the same day put their beautiful food outside in containers half eaten. Time and time again the Suzuki's tried to make peace with the Red Giant by leaving thoughtful gifts at his cave door. Mrs. Suzuki even laid out a beautiful assortment of acorns that she had been saving for a special occasion. The Red Giant rudely kicked them away when he came out of his cave. Mr. Suzuki had finally found a way to get inside the large black containers behind the back entrance to the cave. Once inside he carefully sorted through all of the Red Giants specially hidden food. It was amazing the assortments of fruits and vegetables, and much to Mr. Suzuki's surprise, even some animal flesh resided in the containers. Mr. Suzuki knew that some animals ate other animals but he'd never seen it firsthand and he was frightened for his family for the first time. The good news was the Red Giant rarely came out at night when all reasonable creatures are about. Mr. Suzuki decided not to reach out and try to be friends with the Red Giant anymore and just live his life the best he could.
As the children grew up Mr. Suzuki found it easier and easier to provide for his family now that the girls could help with the difficult work in the garden. Everything was nice on Bainbridge Island until one day when the Red Giant invited the other giants that lived nearby to come over to his cave. The other giants pointed and laughed at the Suzuki's garden and asked the Red Giant “what on earth happened there?” The Red Giant got even redder in the face and told them that a bunch of filthy rabbits had been destroying his garden. Thank goodness the children were still asleep thought Mrs. Suzuki who had overheard this ugliness. The next day the Red Giant got out a large shovel and a pitchfork and began placing a fence around their entire garden. The Suzuki family waited in the bushes and watched in horror as the Red Giant tried to keep them away from their livelihood. Just as the last post was going in and the garden would've been sealed off forever the Red Giant clutched his heart and fell to the ground. The Suzuki's waited for hours but he never moved. Other giants came and took the Red Giant away and they never saw him again. The Suzuki's lived in peace from that moment on. Over time their clan got bigger and bigger as the girls married and had children of their own. Their garden became larger and larger and the fencing actually helped keep out other predators. Mrs. Suzuki often wondered why the Red Giant simply could not accept being friends with her family. If he had just accepted the gift of those beautiful acorns she gladly would have given him some of the bounty from her garden. His own selfishness is what killed him.
The End