"Fruit Stands"
The fruit stands were made of wood. The sides were lower in the front and went up higher as they went toward the back, as was the fruit in them. The legs were made of wood, too, but there was a large open space underneath them with just the legs coming down.
There were eight fruit stands in all. Two were in front of me standing side-by-side and two behind me standing side-by-side and two on each side of me standing side-by-side. They all touched at the corners forming a complete square enclosure, with me in the center, sitting on the ground.
The stands were full of fruit, all kinds of fruit. I knew what some of them were, but some I did not. I got up to inspect the fruit stands, and to try to pry them apart to get out of the middle, but I could not. I tried going underneath them, but they lowered themselves so that I could not escape that way either. I tried to climb over them, but the pile of fruit just got higher preventing my escape.
The distress of the situation started to overwhelm me. Seeing that I was trapped, I sat back down and began to cry. I sat there for a while, very disturbed. At one point I looked up, and one of the fruits lit up, then another.
Slowly I stood up and went over to the fruit that had a light on it and picked it up. I took a bite, and it was very good. I tried to pick up a fruit that was not lit up, but I could not even budge it. I backed off and waited for another fruit to light up and when it did, I picked it up but still could not pick up a fruit that was not lit up.
The way it worked is that when a fruit was lit up, I could pick it up, but if there was no light on it, I could not. When a fruit lit up, but then went dim before I got to it, I could not pick it up. So, I realized I could only pick up fruit when it had a light on it.
One time I picked up a fruit that had a light on it and waited for it to go dim to take a bite. It was very bitter, and I spit it out.
The feeling of being trapped started getting to me when I heard a voice say, “This is not a trap, you may leave at any time.”
I asked, “How do I leave, as I cannot climb over nor go underneath?”
The voice said, “Just ask”, so I did.
The fruit stands parted for me, and I was able to walk out of the middle of them. I kept walking and walking. I would look back and there they were, but I was free.
Soon I began to miss the fruit and felt lost without them. So, I turned around and went back to the fruit stands.
Cautiously, I walked into the middle, and they closed around me, and the fruit started lighting up again.