Hey, everybody! I have another one-shot for you, this time starring one of my favorite characters from VeggieTales, Pa Grape. In shows, I always like old/senior characters, so it shouldn't be surprising that I like the guy a lot. I was inspired by Fizzy Starburst's "Why They Need Big Idea", where she puts down all of her headcanons for what would happen if the Veggie Tales cast found Big Idea during their times of hardship. That just proves that God directs people to meet certain people who can change your life, though nobody can change your life as nearly as much as Jesus can.

With that in mind, I have come up with a backstory for Pa Grape and his family. It'll be kind of long, but hopefully you'll walk away from this with a powerful lesson from it: sometimes, God brings certain people into your life for the better, never for the worse.

So, I hope you enjoy this story. I'm going to more or less write this like I wrote Tea For Two, only this time, the whole story will be in Pa's POV.

And before I start, I must thank my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, for giving me the idea for this story. I just went through a time of soul-searching and I realized that I wasn't giving him much credit in my stories. I repent of that mistake, and starting from here on out, I'm not going to do that again. You, Lord, have given me this talent to help others, and I hope that through this story, people will leave with a greater understanding of You and continue to trust You even through their hardships. And to those reading this story, I pray for all who are suffering and I want you to know that God is always there to listen and help you. In Jesus' name, Amen.

I hope you enjoy the story!

Story Title:
Here For A Reason

Tags: Family/Friendship/Spiritual

Connected to: Hugs and Kisses (takes place before Very Veggie Romance)

Summary: A lot of veggies and fruits wonder why a senior such as Pa Grape is working in film at his age. After all, most seniors end up going to a retirement home some time in their lives, grapes even more so. Mr. Lunt, Mr. Nezzer and Larry are those curious veggies and fruit, and in between breaks while filming their latest movie, Pa tells them all just why he's still working for Big Idea. Pa-centric, and told in his POV, with most of the story in flashback.

Disclaimer: As usual, I own nothing of Veggie Tales or any of the characters involved. I just own my God-given imagination and my computer.

Quick Note: Thanks to Fizzy Starburst for letting me borrow some of her ideas!

Here For A Reason

Even though I wasn't in Celery Night Fever, I will admit I enjoyed the movie a lot, mainly due to the fact that it was funny to see Archie finally cut loose and have fun. Seriously, that asparagus was too uptight sometimes. He really needs to let go and have fun more often.

Not long after the film came out, Bob called me back to work, saying that he had a new role for me in the newest picture they were doing. When I found out I was going to be an adventurous father type, I was excited. I hadn't done something like that since the "Pirates" movie, which was my last shot into doing a whole movie by myself. Though the movie wasn't really received well with critics and even some fans who liked Jonah better, all of my friends loved it, and we still have a sizeable fanbase. I still can't believe that what was supposed to be a one-shot joke in a Silly Song became that popular.

We had just finished shooting about three scenes, one of which was an action scene. The last time I did my own stunts, I ended up hurting myself, so Bob agreed to get a stunt double who looked almost like me. The main difference was that he had some serious freckles on his face, reminding me of my own son, Tom. They had to film his body instead of his face, as makeup tended to cause his skin to break out.

I was in the break room talking with Mr. Lunt and Larry when Mr. Nezzer came in the room, still dressed in character as the Boom Operator. He's a character who has a penchant to ruin films by setting things on fire. As usual, he ends up playing the villainous role in the movie alongside Mr. Lunt, something that he wasn't really happy about. It's mostly because of the fact that he's such a nice person, and that he doesn't like playing villains because of his somewhat shady past. He hasn't told me much about it, but it usually makes him very uncomfortable, so I don't prod.

We're also very opposite people in terms of personality. He's very calm, collected, and has a hard working attitude to things, as well as not being able to use technology to save his life. The only thing that I've ever seen him operate with some degree of skill is a smartphone, and that's only because Mr. Lunt had to help him use it. He also likes board games (or as I call them, "bored games") and strategy games such as chess, backgammon and Nine Man's Morris.

If I had to describe myself, I'd say I'm very big on "no nonsense" and being focused on work, but I have a certain fire that just won't go away; you could say that I am young again mentally, despite going on 85. I love playing pranks on Archie and Bob with the kids, very tech-savvy and just...well, not the boring kind of old man. You won't see me playing bingo on Friday nights at the community center; it's just that boring for me, since I win all the time. I'd rather play video games with my kids, mainly ones where all you have to do is shoot things.

Despite these differences, the two of us get along pretty well. He's one of the first people that I ended up meeting when I started at Big Idea. It's helped me get through the really boring days of shooting movies.

"Hey guys," Mr. Nezzer said, sitting next to me on the bench. "You were great out there today on those scenes."

"Thanks," Larry answered before taking another sip of his cream soda. "Although I have to give props to Pa, though. He really was the scene stealer for this scene."

"Yeah. The part where you were freaking out over Joey being lost made me tear up, man," Mr. Lunt added. "It's not every day that I get to say that."

"Goodness, guys, if you keep this up, I'm going to turn redder than Bob!" I joked, and everyone laughed.

"But seriously, though, you really got into that scene, Pa. How were you able to put that much...um, what's the word?"

"Anguish?"

"Yeah! How were you able to put so much emotional anguish into your voice while you did that scene?" Larry continued.

"It's method acting. I simply thought of three of the saddest things that happened to me," I answered.

"Really? What's that?" Mr. Lunt asked.

Shoot. I had been really hoping none of them would ask me that question. It really brought up some bad memories that I tried hard to forget.

But everyone was staring at me, and I didn't want to be rude in not answering. So I said, "Well, if you want to know, it's kinda connected to why I'm here at Big Idea."

I knew that would get their attention. One of Mr. Nezzer's bushy eyebrows went up in surprise, Larry nearly sent his soda flying all over the table, and Mr. Lunt stared at me.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, let me get this straight," Mr. Lunt started, "you're actually going to explain something that I've been badgering you about for the last ten years?"

"You were badgering him for what?" Larry was curious.

"I was asking him why he still works for Big Idea for ten years. He told me that he enjoys his job and that he's finally getting a chance to be an actor," Mr. Lunt said, repeating the same thing I'd told him for ten years straight. "But I have the feeling that's not all of it."

"Well, to be fair, a lot of grapes that we know are all in retirement homes," Larry said. "But Pa doesn't look like he's ready to go into one yet."

"Darn right I'm not!" I said. I was quite proud of the fact that my body wasn't slowing down like everyone else's.

"I just want to know why, that's all. Are you saying that it's wrong to be curious?" Mr. Lunt shot Mr. Nezzer an accusing glare.

"Of course not!"

"I'm with Mr. Lunt on this one, Pa," Mr. Nezzer said. "You never did tell anybody much about yourself."

"Yeah...well, if I did, it would take hours. Your introduction should only be 15 seconds long," I replied. "Anyways, to get to why I came to Big Idea, I have to tell you about my past. It's going to be a very long story, so you should comfortable."

"Ooh, I like long stories!" Larry looked like a little kid on Christmas morning as he jumped out of the chair and sat in the small beanbag chair in front of me.

"As long as it's not boring and stuff," Mr. Lunt said, "I'm cool with a story before we have to go back to work."

I shook my head. Even though we agree and see eye to eye on some things, he still thinks that I'm some kooky old man who doesn't really fit in with the younger crowd. Most of the barbs we got into were because of that.

"Don't worry, it's not a boring story," I explained carefully. "You and everyone else are in it. How is that boring?"

Mr. Lunt perked up. "Well, of course it would be boring without me in it!" he said, boastful pride in his voice. "I make everything interesting, after all."

I should've known that was coming. "Anyway, if I can start on the story..."

~[X]~

I was born near the end of the Roaring Twenties: May 19th, 1926. If you couldn't tell by my accent already, I was born in upstate New York, in Brooklyn. Life there was especially hard for Orthodox Jewish people like my parents, bless their hearts. They faced persecution all the time from the other foreigners that lived in Brooklyn-and let me tell ya, there were a lot of foreigners. Add in the fact that my dad couldn't hold a job for a long time because of just pure bad luck, and well, life was just unpleasant. Having next to no food on the table and dealing with my parents' constant made my childhood pretty rough.

I was just certain that things would get better when the stock market crashed. My dad had placed some funds that he'd stored up through hard-earned labor in a bank because one of his friends told him to. The day of the crash, he went to get his money out like everybody else. But by the time he got there, it was too late. Every penny he'd ever earned was gone.

When the Great Depression started, it turned out to be even worse than just being "somewhat poor". No food on the table became normal. I would go to bed, crying because I was hungry. Lots of people were leaving Brooklyn for the South, even though it was worse down there from what I'd heard. Lots of people had to live on the streets. All sorts of chaos happened back then.

After a year of this, Dad got fed up. He packed his bags and just...left us, in the middle of the night. I watched him go. He didn't even say goodbye to me as he walked out the door. When I told Ma, it nearly killed her. Without him, we had no way of paying the rent or providing for ourselves. She packed up our stuff, and we left Brooklyn for Manhattan, where one of my relatives, Aunt Beckah, lived. She had some money, but her husband had taken the rest, since he was a greedy little jerk.

I was able to actually get some food into my stomach, and I had my faith restored. Ma started taking me over to the small Methodist church, and it was there that we got saved. Now before you start saying anything, I know that it was considered a crime for an Orthodox Jew to go to a church to hear about Jesus. Thing is, Ma was into the Bible at a young age, and even told me some stories of Jesus when I was little. She stopped because Dad made her, but since he left she was free to do what she wanted.

Church was one of two things that lessened the hardship for me. The second thing was movies. I used to beg Aunt Beck to give me a nickel or a quarter so I could watch the black and white cartoons and Shirley Temple films. They always cheered me up, made me forget about my problems at home. It was then that I knew I wanted to be an actor. I wanted to cheer people up. I wanted people to stop suffering and worrying about their problems. Most of all, I wanted to share my faith with the audience. But there weren't movies like the ones we have today back then. All anybody cared about was finding a roof over their heads and food to put in their stomachs.

Well, sometime later, right before the Great Depression ended and World War 2 started, Ma got ill. I did everything I could to help her, because she said that one of her dreams was to live to see me get married and make a name for myself. I didn't want to let her down. I found a job somewhere in the Midwest,in Michigan, I believe, one that promised a lot of pay. I figured if I could get enough money, I could buy a house for Ma and take care of her. So, I said goodbye to my aunt and I left for Michigan with nothing but the clothes on my back and my Bible.

Well, to make a long story short, the job was nothing like I imagined. In fact, from what I remember, it was downright dangerous, and people were expected to do this job for limited pay. More than once I hurt myself, but I had to keep coming back to get my money. Back then, you couldn't take sick days. If you didn't show up to work once, you were fired. So I had to deal with the heat and my various injuries. I thought about complaining, but I decided against it. Growing up during the Great Depression taught me to never complain. The only thing that kept me going was thinking of getting Ma that new house.

A few months later, I got the letter from Aunt Beck that said Ma had passed. I was torn apart with grief. I even walked off the job with the last paycheck I earned. I had lost my reason for coming here for the first place. I had nowhere to go, and not one person wanted to help me. Aunt Beck later cut me off from the family after Ma died, and the rest of my family didn't want to accept a Jew who'd accepted Jesus.

So I turned to God and prayed. I asked him on what I should do. I asked him to give me strength and to make sure that I didn't falter in my faith.

He did answer my prayer. He told me to move to Pennsylvania and get a job at a steel mill, so that's what I did. I used the money I had left to buy a house, and then I started attending another church to keep my faith going strong. That's where I met my wife, Caroline, at that church. We stayed there for about three or so years, raising Tom and all. Rosie came later down the road. By that time, we were living in Kentucky, as we moved there since my job required me to move a lot. That's where both of their accents came from. Even Caroline picked up some of the dialect. I never could.

And then...well, that's when I get to the most painful part of the story...

~[X]~

"Hey, guys...? I'd hate to interrupt your story, Pa, but Bob's been calling you guys for the past thirty minutes. He's ready to start filming."

"What?" I snapped out of my bard like voice to see Jerry standing in the door, dressed in character as Angry Eye Joe, the Boom Operator's henchman. I swear, whoever came up with that name must've been writing on five cans of soda late at night.

"Dude, why do you have to interrupt the story?" Mr. Lunt's voice was full of irritation as he turned towards the taller gourd. "I was actually paying attention to the story the whole time!"

"And he was just going to get to the good part!" Larry whined.

"Oh, boy..." I muttered. The two of them could get quite emotional when it came to stories. "As much as I'd like to tell you guys the rest of my life story, we don't want Bob coming after us himself." I knew how serious Bob was when it came to schedules, and more than once I've witnessed what Mr. Lunt calls his "Academy Award-winning breakdowns". And while I think the name is certainly funny, Bob going crazy from not meeting deadlines and taking it out on other veggies is anything but.

"Alright...but you are going to finish the rest of the story at the end of the day, Pa," Mr. Lunt said, giving me the most serious expression he could manage. "Was your mother's death one of the saddest things that you had to go through?"

"Yeah..."I said, drawing it out in a long, sad tone. "If I tell you the others right now, I think I'd lose focus."

"True. That's happened to me a lot on that," Mr. Lunt said. "Well, better get going, before the Boss shows up."

I shook my head. I'll never understand where he comes up with those nicknames.

~[X]~

It would be a few hours after shooting that everyone came after me. And by everyone, I mean everyone: even those scallions that never got a name were coming for the story, bringing snacks and drinks as though this were some sort of movie. Mr. Lunt headed up the group, grinning like a fool.

"This is so you won't forget!" he said. "Everybody wants to hear the story now!"

And he says I have a big mouth? His is about the size of a black hole!

"So, now that we're all here," Lunt continued, obviously proud of himself, "now you can tell us all about the other half of the story. Don't worry, I brought everybody up to speed."

"Alright, alright. But don't get mad at me if I falter at some parts. I told you before, this is where things really got grim for me," I explain.

"Start now! Start now!" Larry egged me on, still looking like it was Christmas morning.

"Larry, calm down," I said. "Now where was I...oh yeah..."

~[X]~

The second worst thing that happened to me happened when we moved to Chicago, Illinois. This was where I was finally going to stop moving around, as I told Caroline when we moved. We had another member of the family with us, my little nephew George. His parents, which consisted of my older brother and his wife, had been killed in a plane crash, and we had taken him in before we moved. But we didn't treat him like a nephew. We treated him as though he were another son. Tom and Rosie loved playing with George, and used to go to the playground at the school and just play whatever came into their heads.

Then, every parent's worst nightmare happened.

I'll never forget when Tom burst into our bedroom telling us to get help right away. He said that George...had been snatched off the playground by some stranger in a van. They said he was a tall zucchini with a crop of black hair. We called the cops, and chased the guy almost out of the suburbs. I know, it sounds like something out an action film. But every part of it was real. I remember when we finally caught up with the van, and the driver walked out with George's mouth stuffed with a handkerchief. I screamed for him to let my boy go. I walked straight up to him and chewed him out, and he started to let George go.

But it turned out the driver had an accomplice. He was a really tall asparagus with a menacing, almost heartless stare. He whipped out a gun and...a-and started shooting. His target was obviously the driver, but...h-he ended up hitting George instead. While the cops took on the two criminals, we called 911 and did everything we could to stop the bleeding. When we got to the hospital, it was too late. He...he was gone.

Losing a child, even one that you consider to be your own, was something I'd hoped to never experience. I was in denial for most of my life. When it did sink in, I would weep uncontrollably. The whole family was inconsolable. I turned to alcohol to ease my pain, but...but it left me feeling emptier than ever.

I was horrible to my family when I was drunk. I used to drink six-packs like nobody's business, and I hurt both of my kids and Caroline for really small things, like if the salt shaker fell off the table. Tom and Rosie were glad when I was gone. I even used to steal money from my wife to pay for the stuff. Caroline finally got fed up with me and said that she was planning on getting a divorce, and taking the kids with her. At that moment, I realized that I had to get clean. Losing George was one thing, but to have my whole family turn against me would have killed me. I promised them all that I would get clean, and they agreed to stay.

It wasn't easy at first. I snuck in a giant bottle of the stuff and suffered withdrawal when I didn't get it. I have to thank Rosie and Caroline for getting me back on track. They'd sit with me and calm me down when I was having another panic attack about not having any strong drink. They also got me back to church, and I remember falling face first on the altar and repenting for everything I'd ever done. From that day since, I've been completely free of alcoholism.

But right when that happened...the third thing started.

The steel mill I worked at filed for bankruptcy during the 80's. They had to let go of all of their employees, and I was one of the first one hundred to go. I had a good bit of money in my bank account, but I gave up most of it to pay for Tom and me to go to college; both of us were going to acting school. When I lost my job, I had to take up a whole bunch of odd jobs to make up for it, even one at a fast food restaurant. I was exhausted and unhappy during that time, but I figured, if I tally together the paychecks I earn at these shops, I just might be able to put food on the table for my kids and pay the rent. They got the 'no complaining' attitude from me, since I told them of my life during the Great Depression.

But, it turned it wasn't enough. I had to take out loans to pay for school, and I was neck deep in debt. Working at the Squeaky Clean Car Wash, Binky's Burgers and Save More Supermarket weren't enough to pay for the rent, either.

The landlord didn't buy any of our excuses this time around. He told me and Caroline that we were going to lose our apartment. I never talked about it around the kids, but I could see that they were worried about me. They had every reason to be. I had to quit school, because with the three jobs and classes going on, I had to miss church. I had about ten years on my face, my hair turned grey too early from stress and I couldn't make ends meet. There were times where all I could do was cry.

And then, I would pray. I would pray for my wife and kids, who were the most important people in my life. I prayed to God that He would give them something to save them. I did this for nights on end. Even though I was at the end of my rope, I didn't let that stop me from praying.

And then...the best thing of my life happened. One Sunday, I ran into this tomato after church. His name was Bob. I'd seen him a few times, but I never bothered to ask him his name. After apologizing twenty times for bumping into me, he just stared at me for a moment. When I asked if he was alright, he looked like a light bulb had just gone off in his head.

"You...you'd be perfect for my new movie!" he'd said.

"I'm sorry, what?" I'd replied.

"I said, you'd be perfect for the part I have going in my new movie!" he said.

"Are you a director or something?" I'd asked.

"Well, more like a novice that's just got out of film school, so I'm new to this. But I just started a company called Big Idea, and I've started a series that teaches kids about the Bible. It's only one film, based off of the book of Daniel. I don't have a lot of actors save for me, my friend Larry and a little guy named Junior, a highbrow British actor named Archibald Asparagus and a couple of scallions. I could use some more talent," he explained breathlessly.

I blinked, thinking to myself that this must be some sort of divine intervention. I said, "Sure. Uh, what's this second film of yours about anyway?"

Bob smiled. "Come with me down to the coffee shop and I'll tell you all about it."

"Do you mind if I brought my family along? My wife is kind of suspicious around strangers," I'd said.

Bob had laughed. "Of course. Who knows, I might be able to fit them into the picture as well."

And as I went to introduce him to my family, I had the feeling things were going to get a whole lot better after this.

~[X]~

"Well, as it turns out, we all ended up getting the part, and paid quite a bit, too. We still lost our apartment, but we had enough money to buy one that was closer to Big Idea. Later, we ended up buying a really nice house," I continued. "I finished school, and starred in enough movies to help novices like Jimmy and Jerry around. I became friends with Mr. Nezzer, Mr. Lunt, Bob, Khalil and so many other people that well, I didn't want to leave."

I looked at all of my friends, whose eyes were glued onto me as though I were a TV set or something. "As for why I'm still here...well, I'm here for a reason, guys. I'm here because God led me here. I would have been out of a job, out on the streets, starving and begging for food; actually, I'm sure I would've been dead by now. I'm finally fulfilling my lifelong dream, my family has a roof over their heads and food to eat, and I'm debt-free. Plus, I didn't have to abandon church. I wouldn't ever abandon it," I finished. "That's why I'm still here. And I don't plan on leaving."

After I'd finished, there was a moment of silence as everyone stared at me with open jaws and wide eyes. Then, Junior got up and started to clap. It wasn't long before the others started clapping, too. Jimmy had tears rolling down his face, a rarity for him. Then again, I don't think there was a dry eye in that room. Everyone was teary eyed, and Archie appeared to be holding his back.

Once the applause was over, Bob said, "Wow, Pa. Just...just wow. I didn't realize you had it so..."

"Rough? Yeah, I'd had lots of rough patches in life. But it was my rock solid faith that kept me going. Sure, I slipped up. Everyone does. But it was because I got back on track that I'm here, and not dead," I said. I could feel tears stinging my eyes as the weight of everything I'd said started to sink in. I really was a blessed man, or, as what Caroline called me, a survivor. "Do any of you have tissues?"

"Yeah. I could do with some right about now," Jimmy said. His face looked like Niagara Falls had just poured down it.

Archie pulled out a box of tissues from the other side of the room and passed them around. I took mine and gratefully blew my nose in it.

It was true. I didn't plan on leaving Big Idea at all, not after what God had done for me. Sure, there were fires. There were fights. There was chaos and threats of cancellation and bankruptcy. And of course, there were times where terror comes into the studio. Eddie Russell and Julian Maverick ring any bells?

But I'm not going to deny it: it's so much better than the alternative.

THE END

Isn't that nice? I did my best not to make it too angsty or preachy, but I think this turned out pretty well. Since I became a Judeo-Christian, I always saw Pa as a Messianic Jew. A lot of Jews consider it a crime to believe in Jesus, since they don't believe that He's the savior; some are even rejected for doing so. That's one thing that does happen in real life, unfortunately, but the good news is, Jewish people are starting to accept Jesus as their Messiah while still retaining their Jewish roots.

The next one-shot will be focused on Jimmy and Jerry. In keeping in with canon videos in Veggie Tales, I'll make sure this is after the events of Celery Night Fever. I haven't seen it yet, but I'll probably check it out soon.

See you later, and please let me know what you think!

God bless, iheartgod175