The seed that left his pumpkin

By Alessandro Caselli

Nut is a seed that lives a safe and quiet life inside his pumpkin with his brothers and sisters. But he, unlike the rest of them, is convinced that a “World Out-There” must exist. Even though everyone tells him not to, Nut decides to overcome his fears and leave the pumpkin to see what awaits him outside. An ant, a cicada, and a magpie help him to discover the world they already know well - but what if the World Out-There is just another pumpkin to find a way out of?

• Language: English
• Publisher: BadPress
• Release date: Jun 3, 2020
• ISBN: 9781071543771

Book preview

To David, who made me meet Nut.

To Marzia, who showed me the World Out-There.

To Jonathan, Donald and Richard.

To Nut and Thief.

Introduction

Pumpkin seeds all look more or less the same, but they are all different, just like people. Some are long and others short, there are fat ones and thin ones; there are pumpkin seeds that taste more intense, some that have a more delicate taste, and some that don’t even taste of anything at all.

Pumpkin seeds all live the same life, a bit like people. They are born, they grow up, and they die. And when they die, some of them are roasted, some of them are used to create new pumpkin plants, and others, well, we don’t know what happens to them. But none of them ever leave the pumpkin until the day they die.

The seeds are happy to live inside their pumpkin, even though there is no light and no shade: they feel safe and they have a quiet, respectable and quite predictable life, just like many people. However, not everyone settles for that: there are seeds that feel imprisoned by invisible yet heavy chains that prevent them from being truly free. The other seeds can’t feel them, because they are pleasant chains