Adam washed a lovely red apple under a stream of clear water until it shone like a Christmas ornament. He took a hearty bite. Crunch! And one small, sweet piece named Pip set off on a grand adventure.
First, he was greeted by large white gates that opened and closed rhythmically. Chomp, chomp! Pip was a little startled, but he realized they were just grinding him into smaller, friendlier pieces. Then he slid down a long, soft slide and, with a cheerful “splash!”, landed in a warm, cozy pool.
“Wow, it’s so warm here!” Pip laughed, bobbing happily on the little waves. All around him swam other new friends—a little piece of bread, a drop of milk, and even a tiny carrot. They all looked around curiously. “What’s going to happen now?” asked the piece of bread. “I heard we’re supposed to turn into energy so Adam can run and jump.”
Just then, something strange began to happen around them. From unseen places, thousands of tiny, silver sparkles emerged. They moved incredibly fast. As they flew closer, Pip saw that they looked like tiny, busy scissors. They snapped in the air and sang cheerfully: “Snip-snip, here and there, work for us is everywhere!”
One pair of scissors flew right up to Pip. “Hello! We are enzymes! We’ve come to help you!” they announced in a thin, snipping voice.
Pip pulled back a little. “Help me? But I don’t need help. I’m a delicious piece of apple.”
“That you are,” the scissors agreed. “But you’re too big. Adam’s body can’t use you like this. Imagine you’re a giant building block and Adam needs tiny little bricks to build a house. We’re here to snip you neatly into those bricks!”
And without another moment’s delay, they got to work. “Don’t worry, it just tickles,” they laughed. Snip, snip, snip! Pip felt a gentle tickling all over his body. One pair of scissors snipped off a small piece of sugar hidden inside him. Another pair snipped off a bit of fiber. Pip watched in amazement as he changed. He was no longer one big piece, but a million tiny particles that shimmered like stardust.
“Aha!” exclaimed Pip, who was now just a tiny little voice. “Now I understand!”
He looked over at his friend, the piece of bread. A team of other scissors was dancing busily around it, too. These looked a little different and snipped to a different rhythm. “We’re specialists in bread!” they sang. “Snipping starches is our hobby!”
And by the drop of milk, a third group was at work, taking care of the milk proteins. Every food had its own team of clever enzyme helpers. It was an amazing, organized dance full of snipping and cutting.
“First stage complete!” announced the head enzyme, who wore a tiny commander’s hat. “Everything is snipped into basic particles. Now what?”
“Now we can finally become energy!” exclaimed one tiny sugar particle that had once been part of Pip. She felt light and full of power.
The walls of the pool they were swimming in suddenly became permeable, like a fine net. One by one, the tiny, snipped food particles began to pass through it into a river that flowed all around. It was the river of life, carrying energy throughout Adam’s entire body.
The former Pip, now just a tiny spark of energy, let himself be carried by the current. Along the way, he met thousands of other friends. “Where are you going?” he asked a spark from the neighboring carrot.
“I’m going to the eyes, so Adam can see the colors in his drawing properly!” she replied.
“And you?” he asked another, which had once been part of the bread.
“I’m rushing to the legs! He’s about to play a game of tag and will need a lot of strength to run fast!”
Pip’s particle laughed. “Great! And I… I’ll go to the brain! So Adam can think of the best hiding spot in the world!”
And so it happened. When Adam was playing with his friends in the yard, his legs ran as fast as the wind, thanks to the energy from the bread. His eyes shone, and he saw every detail, thanks to the energy from the carrot. And when it was his turn to hide, he thought of such an amazing hiding spot behind a bush that no one could find him. It was all thanks to the small, sweet particle from the apple that gave him that brilliant idea.
That evening, as Adam was brushing his teeth, he remembered the crunchy apple. He had no idea what a grand adventure had taken place in his tummy, or what a diligent army of tiny little scissors had helped him have such a wonderful, happy day.
What do you think, children, the next time you have something good to eat, where will the energy from your food travel? On your next walk outside, try to notice how much strength you have for running and jumping. It's all thanks to your small, invisible helpers.