Monday, December 04, 2023

Produce department


We're lying in bed and there's a rap on the window glass. I get up and open the window. A middle-aged couple are standing on the sidewalk and the man asks me if I have any ramps. I say yes and go to the front door to meet them. On the way there I pick up a handful of limp scallions, which I offer with an apology, saying that ramps are out of season and that's all I have. He and his wife aren't wearing masks (neither am I) but he tells me they've both had COVID. He gives me a dollar and they leave. On the way down the hall I pass the open door of another room, where a male relative is standing next to a tall wooden cabinet. The cabinet is festooned with hundreds of radishes of different sizes and colors (but mostly red), lovingly and symmetrically arranged. Where some people have knickknacks, he has radishes. And now, back to bed.

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