The Strawberry Runner

A young strawberry plant noticed that one of its runners kept growing farther away.

Every day the runner stretched a little more.

“You’re leaving me,” said the plant. “Why don’t you stay close?”

The runner said nothing and kept stretching.

Weeks later, the runner took root in a patch of soil nearby.

Soon new leaves appeared.

Then flowers.

Then strawberries.

The young plant looked at the new plant in the distance.

The runner had not been running away. It had been growing.