“Have you heard the news?” said one raspberry bush to another.
“No. What news?”
“There’s going to be a raspberry hunt today.”
The second raspberry bush looked around at its own laden branches. “Well, if anyone can see us, they won’t have to search very far.”
“True,” said the first. “They know where we are — we sent word. The only question is whether they’ll think we’re ripe yet.”
“And are we?”
“Very,” said the first. “And they’ll be able to tell the moment they touch us. When a raspberry is ready, it comes off the bush at the lightest touch. When it isn’t, it holds on and says so.”
The raspberry bush seemed pleased with this. “So we let them know ourselves, really. No need to guess.”
And when the raspberry hunters came that afternoon, they found out exactly what the bushes had predicted — the ripe ones gave themselves up willingly, and the rest held on, politely indicating they needed a little more time.
