MindSpinner

For my daughter, it’s still summer. Mother and brother may be tearing out the door every morning to get to first period on time, but young Ms. Footloose has two more weeks of leisure. She’s bored out of her mind.

I walked into the kitchen this afternoon and found a grapefruit and a banana I had purchased only yesterday, with the unimaginative notion that somebody might eat them, likely me. This was not to be. The grapefruit sat on the table, leering with a snaggle-toothed grin. It had a black magic marker face, reminiscent of a jack-o-lantern’s, except that on a jack-o-lantern, one seldom sees freckles or multiple stab wounds. The largest gash was sealed shut with a Band-Aid. Dangling earrings marked the position of non-existent pink earlobes. It seemed a happy grapefruit, in spite of everything, though no longer an edible one.

The banana, for its part, was securely affixed face down (it too had a face) atop the grapefruit by means of a steak knife, which was sunk through banana far into the fruit beneath.

There had been a story, I was told, and pictures taken to record the tale.

One notes that no coveted junk foods were involved.