Sidewalk Scenes December 2025
*** Holiday Intermission *** Edition Break: Next post on Friday, January 16th 2026 *** Grand Finale of the Salty & Cara Adventure: “The Apple Paradigm” ***
Here’s the Outlook:
- The year is coming to an end, with its last quarter running up to New Year’s Eve. And, as you know by now, I am traditionally offline for those holidays. So, no posts between Christmas and New Year. I need some time to prepare and share this year’s “Festive Menu” for my friends and family. I know you’ll understand, especially with that yummy menu: [Big Tree Soup], [Patamistadas Shroomed], and [Winter Forest Cake]).
- Also a tradition: At the beginning of next quarter, we will take a short break. We are making some technical and design improvements to the site. So there might be a short break at the beginning of the new year. The next post will be on Friday, January 16th.
- Below, you find the grand finale of the fifth Salty & Cara adventure, “The Apple Paradigm”. A triple feature, and my holiday treat for you. As always: A juicy fable, set in a world inhabited by fruits and vegetables. I hope, you enjoy your present(s) and have a wonderful, peaceful time with all the people you care about! See you next year!
By Mag M. Schaper
Salty & Cara – The Apple Paradigm (Finale)
Fifth Story: Grand Showdown: The beautiful client turns out to be a sword-swinging maniac. She has captured Salty, and they are on their way into his place, where she has announced to finish him. Will he get out of this one? Is there any hope? Well, read for yourself.
A Narrow Path
The closer they came, the more desperate Salty was to get out of the situation. Once they arrived in his apartment, he was finished. There was no way out in the set-up of his home. So, he needed to move now.
“Stop fidgeting, you are going to get yourself hurt!” She hissed, so only he could hear.
“Why don’t you tell me what is going on? Since you are going to shred me to pieces anyway.”
“When we get inside, you will understand.”
“That’s what I am afraid of. Ending up as a fruit salad has a final truth to it.”
“Do as I say, I cannot explain it here. We need to get you inside, where it’s safe.” She was still keeping her voice down, to almost a whisper.
He answered quietly as well: “I don’t trust you.”
“Good. Now, let’s get inside, or this will get very ugly.”
Against his better personal judgment, his detective senses advised him to follow her demands. He even found himself to be a little curious. Very odd.
When they got inside the apartment, she sheathed her sword and set it down in a corner without any further comment, rushed to the windows, and closed the shades completely.
Then she sat down. As he looked at her, he saw signs of exhaustion and relief. The sword was still resting in its corner. What was going on?
“Would you care to clarify your actions?”
“You’re the detective; you tell me!”
“If I didn’t know better, I would say you were getting me out of harm’s way. Which might even mean that you were not stalking me in the past weeks, but actually … I don’t know how to put this, but … Were you guarding me? From whom?”
She smirked, and he realized that she looked much prettier without that fake smile. Now, she was just a naughty pear with an expression of mischief on her face.
“You are not bad. I have to admit that. Fortunately, you did not get suspicious earlier. It would have become very hard to justify my actions to my superiors if you had not played along so nicely.”
“What part was I playing?”
Instead of answering his questions, she pulled a bag from behind a wardrobe. ‘When did she stash that there?’ he wondered.
“Turn around!”
“Why? So you can stab me better in the back?”
“Seriously? I thought you understood. I need to change my outfit to disappear after this.”
He had turned around and started to look through his collection of books. “You normally do not leave much to imagination. Why the sudden shyness?”
“Because I was putting on an act. I will explain shortly, when your old agent friend arrives.”
“Joe? I thought you knocked him out?”
“Actually, that was my signal to him to start working his way up the backside of the house while we were entertaining the other four stupid fruits up front. We agreed to meet up here and decide how to move on next.”
“You are full of surprises.”
“I know. You can turn back around now.”
“That was quick. Not what I would expect …”
He stopped mid-sentence and gazed at the figure in front of him. She was wearing all dark gray again, and her mask. But he did not get to make a comment, because that very instant, Joe materialized out of the shadows.
“How long have you been hiding there?” she demanded to know.
“Don’t you worry, ‘Milady’, I also turned around, when you asked him to.” Then, he looked her up and down closely. ”So you are the secret fifth member of the Mincing Five. Of course, it had to be someone totally unsuspicious from the high tree society that worked as a connection. I am really curious about what you have to tell us.”
Salty found back his composure: “So, what about that brother and the insurance? All just a cover up to get close to me, and … what?”
“No, it was not just a cover up. For the ones who are behind it, of course, it had to look like I was setting you up. But there is more to that. And once you look through those papers I gave Joe to take to you, and the material you just received lately, you will understand. Where are they? Are they in your office?”
“No, I have them here, in a safe storage. Do you have a brother. Is he real?”
She turned and looked out of the window. The masquerade of the pear was now complete. It was impossible to read her face that way, but her voice was telltale enough.
“We grew on the same twig, my brother and I. Mine was the blossom right next to his. Normally, they would have cut it off to get a stronger offspring, but my bud and my blossom were so perfect that the gardener could not bring himself to cut it off. So, he asked my mother. And she urged him to keep me, and even convinced my father to do so. He agreed, to keep her happy. After all, it was her family that really brought the power into their relationship.
My brother, of course, was the one my father wanted. He had it all planned ahead. Raised him to be just like him, had him trained by the meanest assassins and the toughest fighters. My brother loved me, and he did not like the training partners my father chose for him, so he trained me to be his sparring partner. My father never found out. My mother knew and approved of it because she wanted me to be able to defend myself. She saw what was coming all along.
When my father thought his son to be ready, he started the Mincing Five. He had them led by my brother‘s former fighting master and let him choose the team. Except for my brother. He was the link between the ‘Council‘ my father set up with two other high fruit from very old trees to make things work their way. My brother was the secret fifth member.
But at some point, my brother turned against my father because he was not so rotten at his core as the old fruit. He objected solving everything with violence. I think Don T might have had a little to do with that change of core. They talked a lot because the Don does not only orchestrate masterly assassinations but performs also the fine art of subtle social erosion for them.
Don T was there when my brother was killed. He had tried to prevent it, but the Council was determined because my brother was starting to harm them. And he knew too much, so he had to die. My father did nothing because he was so mad that his creation had gone rogue. He just let the rest of the Mincing Five chop him to pieces.
I was also there that day. I wanted to help him and fight with him. But the Don stopped me. He pulled me back because he knew there was nothing that could have saved my brother. Then, he took me with him and comforted me. And he suggested that, instead of killing my father for dooming my brother, I should get even in a more sophisticated way. He taught me many things. And when I was ready, I suggested to my father I should take my brother‘s place. Of course, he did not know about the part the old tomato played in all of this. Or that I was going to play both sides. “
“So, what are you going to do now?” Salty was not quite convinced, and he was still a little angry about the rough handling earlier.
“I have given you all the information you need to stop the Council from harming the Mayor. You might also be able to slow them down a little. And I will continue to provide you with intel. Until it gets too dangerous for me. Which I expect to happen in a short while. I had to pull some heavy strings to get to this point. But I am pretty sure I can get you the information before that you need to take down my father and that band of crooks he has partnered up with.”
“What about the Mincing Five?” They had tried to kill him and Cara, Salty felt they deserved some kind of punishment.
“Oh, they are harmless, once the money stops flowing in. They are just cheap pawns who like to live a life they cannot afford.”
Joe nodded. “Yes, it’s not perfect, I know, but we need to concentrate on the High Trees right now. They are the ones that are really dangerous.”
The Other Side
Joe had asked Beta to meet them at Salty‘s place because he relied on her help to organize the network inside the city. As a ‚plain bar fruit‘, no one paid any attention to her. She had gotten very good at her true calling of being a part time secret agent.
When she entered the room, she looked at and walked past the hooded and masked figure. Then, she turned back, got closer until she almost touched the face of the assassin, and gasped.
„What is this sorry excuse of bell-shaped dingeling doing here? And what‘s with that getup? You look pathetic, Pearl.“
„You know this … one, Beta?“
Joe was surprised.
„Of course Claire knows me. We are branched.“ The phantom seemed amazingly humble all of a sudden.
„We are not ‚branched‘,“ an unusually indignant Beta snapped back, „your branch was mounted on the old tree of my family.“
“Well, that one was rotten to the core and definitely needed some new fruit flesh to restore its vigor.”
„As much as it pains me to admit it, you are right about the spoiled core. There were excellent reasons why I decided to deprive myself of the company of that dry, old, woody bunch.“
“See, so you know what I mean.”
„I don’t know what you mean. I don’t walk around killing like a mindless hornet.“
„Right, instead, you decided to work in a scrummy bar and hang out with roots and potatoes. Just for the fun of it.“
„Yeah, as if running around wrapped in rags and working for peanuts is very classy. I decided to live an open life, without prejudice. You are just a murderer for money. You are nothing like a high bred.“
“It‘s a very classy place, Rico told me all about it. …“
“Wow. Like, I am lowly, but you are taking baths with the crime lord of the city…!”
Salty had had it with the two bickering cousins, so he calmly put an end to the scene. The tall cucumber just picked up Beta and carried her out of the room, completely untouched by her screaming and kicking.
Outside, he must have put her down to talk to her, because the clamor ceased and calm voices were heard. Finally, he came back in and found Joe alone.
„Where is the shady pear?“
„She just left. Also she has promised to stick to what we have agreed upon, and I believe she will.“
„No doubt she will continue to follow her own interests“. Salty was still a little shaken by the incidents earlier that evening and had solid doubts.
„Quite surely she will“, Joe admitted, but then he added with a smile, „we are expecting her to.“ Then he got very serious: „Quentin, the things she told us about are very serious. You need to get off the streets. Both you and Cara are in danger, because if they cannot get to you, they will try to use her. Which puts her in great peril. It would be much easier to protect you both if you moved in with Cara. Her place has a much better strategic setup than your office or this place. And it‘s big enough to run operations from there.“
Salty wore a very serious expression and answered: „I hate that idea.“
Joe looked at him closely, and finally, the young gherkin lost his nerve and started to laugh: „It‘s the worst of reasons for the best of ideas. We should have moved in together a long time ago. Thanks for reminding me.“
„Okay, so this is how it‘s going to work“, Joe pulled a bag from behind a corner.
‘What is this?’ Salty thought, ‘Does everyone use my place as a closet?’
Out of the bag Joe retrieved a palace guard uniform for a tall fruit.
„You need to put this on, and …“ a yellowish mask appeared from the bag as well, „also this.“
„Oh, I see, a charade. Let me guess: There will be many palace guards swarming this place in a short time, and you will get me out as one of them.“
„Almost right“, Joe took off his cloak and was wearing a palace guard uniform under it as well, „They are already here. Although, only five of them are actually active palace guards from Big Valley. Hanano could only spare a few, and Cara‘s grandfather also had to get very insistent to get those onto the water train. But …“ he broke into a big grin, „they brought twenty uniforms with them, and we put any retired palace guard that lives in New Valley, and any fruit that was trustworthy and willing to help, into the uniforms. Some of them are also former colleagues of your father.“
„Your uniform fits quite well, I imagine it is your own, right?
„Right, so again, Detective.“ The old, sturdy banana grinned, but then he got serious.
„They will back you up, but still, you need to get there as fast as you can. For your sake, and for Cara’s. Any needed supplies, we can organize and replace. But you have to go now.“
“On my way, Commander!” Salty joked.
„Actually, it is ‘Captain’, soldier. I retired as head of the palace guard.“
„See you, Captain.“ They both laughed, and Salty left.
Coming Home
Salty arrived at Cara‘s new home shortly after. Joe had informed Alpha, and he had gladly taken over the shift at “Hanano’s Spot” from Cara and rearranged the work for the next few days.
Cara laughed when she recognized her lover in the palace guard uniform. “You look quite ravishing in uniform. Although, I prefer your natural green to that pale yellow you are wearing right now.“ Then, she looked at the little heap of things Salty had brought along: „I thought you would bring more things when you move in with me.“ She teased.
Salty smiled and said: „Is this us moving in together? I thought we were getting behind the barricades until the biggest storm blows over.“
„Or rather, we are setting up camp in a place where we can control what‘s coming and not become the mindless aim to an open assault.“
„Now you are just being melodramatic, dear.“
„Am I? Anyhow: I have realized that you usually travel light on our last big trip.“
„When was that?
“We recently went to Big Valley together. Remember?”
“Oh, sure. I remember that one. Not quite the romantic trip I had planned for us, but …“
„Oh, but there is nothing more romantic than being in mortal danger together with you.“
“I am pretty sure this occasion will fulfill the specifications for your perfect date.“
„So, no moving in with me.“
„Are you inviting me to stay?
„Sure. The place is modest, but I don‘t see why it should not fit. As long as you do not tag along a whole lot more.“
„Actually, this is me. This is it.
„Really? No more personal belongings you want to bring with you?
„That is exactly the point: What should I bring with me? Travel heavy, just in case … Or travel light and be prepared for any sudden development.“
„I love that fruit. Always ready for anything”. There was a mischievous sparkle in the corner of her smile.
„Bring it on“ he replied and hugged her.
„Oh, but there is nothing more romantic than being in mortal danger together with you.“
Side Notes:
- You have forgotten how it all started? No problem. Just read up on the first episode of the first story. And, of course, you can always just choose the “Salty & Cara” category to re-read the whole story from the beginning.
- You have no idea what is going on? Then you could take a look at the [Salty and Cara – Info Page], the [Salty and Cara – Who is Who] page or the [Salty and Cara – How About] page.
Needless to say, the stories about Salty and Cara are pure figments of my imagination. No resemblance to any person or place – present or past – is intended. But I am sure you have already figured that out 😉
The “Salty & Cara” Adventures were invented and written by Mag M. Schaper (copyright 2022 – 2025). All images and content are copyrighted. All rights reserved. For more information, see the Legal Notice.