Out Shovelling

We were out shovelling the two feet of snow when the two neighbor boys from North Carolina, Jake and Josh, came over to join in. "Do you own this whole house?" Jake asked. "Yes," I replied, "and I've lived here 15 years. How old are you?" "Twelve," said Jake. "Wow! I was living here when you were negative two, back when you were a cloud or a star or . . ." "A strawberry!" Jake volunteered. "What kind of strawberry? A supermarket strawberry or a wild strawberry?" Jake thought a moment. "A wild strawberry! And then a worm ate me, and then I became me."