Messi, a 13-year-old boy, constantly disregarded his parents' advice and wasted food daily. It was a routine for him to pile his plate to the brim, only for the leftovers to end up in the trash. When dining out at restaurants, he would order a table full of various cuisines but could never finish them. Consequently, he became overweight. His parents, Mr. Napoleon and Tayler, were deeply concerned by his wasteful habit and repeatedly urged him to be more mindful and not to waste food.
Luckily, the leftovers were taken to orphanages since they were useful and it seemed a waste to throw them away.
Messi didn't realize how cruel he was until one day. After many tiresome efforts during the day, he slept late at night.
He found himself in an area where there was neither food nor water. It looked like a desert. Messi was petrified. He couldn't help but wander here and there to find a way home but to no avail. Everywhere he went, he saw nothing out of the ordinary but abundant cacti and xerophytes. He grew weak, hungry, and thirsty.
Suddenly, he reached a place that had every type of tree, trees with a lot of fruits, varying from apples to bananas, from grapes to oranges, and many more.
He was about to pluck a fruit to eat, but it disappeared and then reappeared a few meters away. Every time he was about to touch them, they vanished. Messi was starving and lay on the ground unattended.
He shouted mercilessly, "I need something to eat. I don't want to die... die..."
As he said this, all the fruits and vegetables came to life. He was perplexed and terrified to witness an army of fruits and vegetables that looked much bigger and larger than him.
"Now you see. You stepped on my back when I had fallen once on the road. It pained a lot for a week," a tall yellow banana said cruelly.
"You left me uneaten when I was cooked by your mother. I ended up in a trash bin where I was attacked by microbes and houseflies. They tore me into pieces and I was left completely bruised," interrupted a zucchini.
"I want to... eat... something," he mumbled.
Upon saying this, the army of fruits and vegetables marched towards Messi and were about to step on him when he woke up with a jerk, "No... No...".
His voice echoed in the entire room but he couldn't comprehend what the dream was all about.
"Oops. It was just a dream," he sighed and went back to sleep.
The next day, right after dawn, his father called him to the dining table and started showing him pictures of impoverished and bony kids who didn't have a loaf of bread to consume.
His mother had laid the lunch neatly, and Messi, as usual, grabbed his lunch hurriedly, left it half-eaten, and went about his daily routine. His parents were tired of suggesting him the importance of food.
That night, when Messi slept, the previous night's dream returned to haunt him.
"I don't wanna die," he shouted.
Suddenly, a cruel man that looked like a big red apple appeared right in front of him and inquired with a rueful grin, "Why do you want food?"
"I want food because I'll die if I don't eat." He managed to utter.
"You threw me away when you saw a black scar on my face. I was unwept for days and days," the apple said. "You don't have the right to have food since you waste it."
If not, then we won't be able to look at healthy food in real life but in photos only
As he said this, the cruel man moved his foot up in the sky and then crushed Messi's head, the way Messi used to step on fallen food.
"No... No... I don't wanna die." He woke up drenched in sweat and could see nothing out of the ordinary. He couldn't sleep the entire night.
The next day, as it was a Sunday, Messi sprang out of bed and within a few minutes was bathed. He ran downstairs to grab the neatly laid breakfast along with his parents.
There was a pen-drop silence, and suddenly his father noticed his worried face.
"You look worried. Is everything all right, my son?" asked Mr. Napoleon as he patted him on his head.
"Yes, dad, I had a very horrifying dream last night," Messi replied.
"Dreams are some of our wishes which need to be fulfilled. You know, when I was a lad like you, I would dream of ghosts and wizards who would drop me in strange places." his father replied.
"Right, papa, but it has been a couple of days now since I have been seeing the same nightmare." said Messi worriedly.
"What was it about?" asked Mr. Napoleon excitedly.
Messi narrated the whole story to his father.
"There you go. You dreamed of an apple who wanted to smash you into pieces. What did you do then?" he laughed and asked.
"Listen to me carefully, my son. That dream signifies the importance of the food you waste. You are cruel yourself," he suggested.
"What?" exclaimed Messi as he heard his father. "Why would I eat more if I am stuffed?"
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"Eating is fine, but leaving the food wasted is not fine. Even in a barren desert where there isn't a single seed, God provides food to a worm in a three-layered rock. But if you disrespect food, you may one day be left with none," he added. "The food you waste can feed hundreds of thousands of children in the world. There are children in Africa, Asia, and other parts of the world who are left with no food to eat. Every day, deaths of children and hungry people hit the headlines of news channels and newspapers, but no worthwhile actions are taken to surmount this menace."
"In a world of billions, more than 820 million people suffer from undernourishment and hunger, with 60% being women and children under the age of five. Haven't you heard of Tharpakar, a desert in Pakistan where people live in miserable conditions and their children die of hunger and malnourishment since they have no other choice? The city bazaar is stuffed with people who don't have a square meal and they know the importance of food." Messi's father suggested.
"Not only you but we all, as a nation, had better take actions to save food. If not, then we won't be able to look at healthy food in real life but in photos only," he said. "But I know, as the cliché goes, 'We don't understand the importance of water until the well is dry,'" he ended.
Messi was overwhelmed with guilt and realized how careless he was.
From that day onwards, his parents saw a prodigious change in his behavior. He stopped wasting food and took the leftovers to the orphanage in the city. He would always invite the poor people of the neighborhood once a month to his home for lunch. He lost weight and developed into a fit man.
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