Saving Face

    He wanted an apple, which made no sense since it was the middle of summer, well, okay, not the middle, June 5th was more barely summer, no, just summer, the beginning of summer, but still, he wanted a cool, crisp apple, tart...well, at least not too sweet or too sour, which was why he was standing at Whole Foods peering at the mishmash of produce, the loud signs proclaiming ORGANIC! Wasn't all food organic, even those tainted by pesticides at their origin? They weren't plastic--they still came from living, organic plants.

In fact he had heard that some supposedly "healthy," good-for-you foods were manufactured in a lab and given monikers like bio-this and probiotic that, the bios and probiotics the result of somebody's chemistry set.

There were apples in the produce section, so he should just choose one or two and keep moving, but he was too frozen in his contemplation of the American apple. He wanted to shout, "Whatever happened to the Red Delicious?" He knew it was a ridiculous question, especially if shouted in a grocery store, but still....HIs mind had become so tangled in an apple quagmire (of his own making, he had to admit) that he couldn't make a decision, couldn't move on, needed help.

Then it happened. A girl, young, not quite womanly, but old enough to be out on her own, probably driving a car, God Forbid, reached across him, grabbed a misshapen something, blushed when she brushed against him, looked up, smiled, said, "Don't you just love these, especially the name?"

He had no idea what she was talking about and must have looked confused.

She held up the misshapen object. "Ugly Fruit," she announced, "and so delicious."

He froze, paused (imperceptibly, he hoped), and then nodded, saying the only thing he could think of. "Yes," he said, "they're my favorite."

Whew! Saved again by harmless prevarication.