When the phone rang that morning, the bananas woke up startled. It had been a quiet night, they had been dreaming, and all of a sudden – the phone.  Mama banana answered.

She put the phone down and beamed a great big yellow smile. “Hey everyone,  listen up, she said”.  Tonight is the beautiful banana pageant. We are all going. There won’t be a second chance.”

The bananas quickly stretched (as best they could). There were frets and worries. “Will the judges take points off for my spots?” Beatrice worried.

Barbara wondered whether she was too tall.

Brenda thought she might be too yellow. Or not yellow enough.

Belinda thought that she was too curled.

Bonnie felt that she wasn’t looking her best. “I haven’t slept for days,”  she said.

The contest was packed with bananas from everywhere. There was tension in the air. Everyone was ripe with anticipation.  Who would be the top banana, the pick of the crop, the best of the bunch?

The international panel of judges (led by Carmen of course) took their places on the podium. According to tradition, the pageant began with the procession of the bananas. Then, the talent show.  Barbara pirhouetted. Brenda did her famous stemstand. Bonnie did her comedy routine. Belinda danced her favorite salsa.

Next, the questions and answers. How can bananas bring world peace and prevent global warming?

And finally, the banana bikini contest.

The judges took forever to decide. All ears were strained in anticipation as Carmen announced, “The winner of this year’s banana beauty pageant is…”

Split!!!

Split?

The judges had selected Split as the winner. Over Brenda, Belinda, Bonnie and  Barbara. Split hadn’t said a thing all day. She hadn’t done any stretching exercises, hadn’t put on makeup. The judges, in their decision, said that Split ‘had demonstrated excellent poise, perfect dimensions, and radiated an air of serene calm and composure’. The other bananas in the bunch were green with envy.

Split had her picture in the papers. A city was named after her. She modeled for sunglasses advertisements. And you can still see her, yellow forever, in Madame Tussaud Wax Museum (in the fruit and vegetables section, of course). 

And if you ever wondered how the famous dessert got its name, well now you know!

Thank you for reading my book!

If you like it, you might also want to read:

The Elevator and the Banana

How to peel a banana backwards

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