1-31-09...EATING APPLES
EATING AN APPLE
Brenda and I got in to a lot of trouble going in her Daddy's orchard. We knew we were not supposed to bother the fruit especially when it wasn't yet ripe. We were just fascinated buy the different fruits. Now it wasn't a big orchard. I think there were about 8or10 trees. There were apples, peaches, apricots, and plums. All used for canning, making jellies, etc for the winter food. We imagined that it was a big magical place. Loved to see the blooms then watch the fruit start to grow anticipating when it could be eaten. Did you ever eat a green apple pie? Yummy! I think the reason we were not supposed to play in there was because of the damage they knew we could do. We wanted to examine each fruit at different stages of it's growth. And we always ate some of it too soon. That didn't always make us sick but sometimes it did. Still we persisted in going in there. Stubbornness ran in our family. Still does. We even picked a bunch of tiny fruit one day to make us a fruit bowl for our 'table' in the play fort. Trouble was Ol' Pet (the cow) got in there and ate it. Darned ol' cow! We were not to even pick it when it was ripe. Brenda's Daddy or my Auntie did that. Then if they gave us some we could eat it. We wiped it off on our dress tails, boys on their shirt tails and we'd munch away.
Well one day I decided to get me an apple and eat it. The orchard was right across from my house, closer than to Brenda's house. I crawled under the barbed wire fence, across the lane and under another barbed wire fence. We were all skilled at crawling those fences without getting a barb in our back sides. Sometimes we would tear our clothes but very seldom did we get stuck on the prickly fence. I was in for much worse this time, at least to me it was worse. I should have known that I would be seen. While I was looking for the biggest reddest apple to pick Norman and Paul showed up. Next was Brenda. The fruit was ripe and to be picked that evening so we didn't think anyone would mind if we ate just one. We each picked one and sat down under the tree. We shined our apples. I noticed mine had a few holes in it but heck fire that was OK with me. I just bit in to that thing and started chewing. I ate two big bites, one on each side of the apple. When I started to take another bite I saw something in the apple that didn't look right. I took my fingernail and dug it out meaning to go ahead and eat my apple. "What's that" Brenda said. "Don't know it was in my apple" I said. I held my hand out and everyone started hollerin', "Clydene, it's a worm". "No it aint it's just a brown spot". "It's a worm Clydene look". I looked and it was not a worm. NOPE! It was half a worm!!! YEP! Half a worm meaning that I had already chewed and swallowed the other half. YEP! Sure nuff did. They all started giggling and pointin' at me, "Clydene ate a worm, Clydene ate a worm". "No I didn't" I hollered. "Here is the worm". They finally made me realize that I had indeed ate the other half of worm. Thats when the fireworks started. I started screamin', cryin', spitin' and gaspin'. I got sooo sick. I was just mortified. "Don't tell anyone" I spluttered. By then Mama had heard me screamin and here she came. She wasn't as adept at crawlin' under the fences as we were and in tryin' to hurry she skinned her back on a barb. She didn't spank us because really it was OK for us to eat an apple. She told us in no uncertain terms that we should have asked and she would have given us a apple from the house. I was still spitin' and splutterin'. When the others told her about the worm she laughed right along with them. Boy I was mad at them. Vowed I'd never speak to them again a long as I lived. Course I did. But heck fire they hadn't oughta' laughed at me. I was sicker'n'a skunk.
I can still picture that half a worm in my hand and I still get a queasy feeling just remembering it. I have never again been able to eat a apple without peeling and quartering it and checking for brown spots. NOPE!
