It just started all at once one day,
this tremendous ability and skill
that I could talk to fruit. Well,
not talk to them in their language, just
listen. I understood their native tongue but
never developed the know-how
to speak it - it was much too complex.
Thank goodness they understood
English, and knew much of the world.

Jill asked me how my day went when
I walked in the room one evening, unloosening
my tie and un-tucking my shirt. "Over with,"
I said, kissing her cheek.
My good friend, Banana was sitting in the
fruit bowl, muttering about how he's
annoyed Apple keeps talking about
the pesticides that are polluting the
earth, his crazy propaganda,
while Orange was still being a
recluse, not even making a peep.
Plum was staring at Pear again, in quiet
awe, admiration. I told Plum he has to make
his move sooner or later before she forgets he even
exist, but he just wouldn't listen to me;
too afraid, the poor thing.

I told Jill about the new ability I had and she
just assumed I was getting delirious again,
work was too rough, too much pressure.
She offered to run me a bath with special salts
and ointments in the water that day, but I
told her it was okay, that I was okay,
to just forget it. But everyday, they've been
talking to me, and I them.
They grow old fast and I felt like their lives were

flashing before my eyes. It was like any other
day, coming home, kissing Jill, saying my
greetings to my fruity cohorts, but this day
I felt like a bath.

Jill ran the water. It was heaven, nirvana,
bliss and everything in between. I felt the oils
cleansing my being, enriching my soul, such a
delight. I thought about my friends in that instance,
fantasizing for a moment whether they would enjoy
an sensual pleasing soak like this one.

I got up from the bath, started toweling off when piercing
screams lit the whole house. I ran out the bathroom,
forgetting the towel, dripping with soapy water,
sliding down the hall, bumping into walls,
I was frantic, scared out my wits.
"Jill! Jill, what's happened?! Are you alright?!!"
my yells went out, searching for some answer.
Down the hall, through the dining room, the screams got
louder as I approached the kitchen and then
they, all at once stopped suddenly.
Peering around the corner, I watched Jill
pour a mixture from the blender into two glasses.
I looked down at the fruit bowl and Plum was sitting there
all alone. I looked at Jill, mouth agape as she cocked an eye
at my winker and handed the glass to me.
"Didn't know you wanted a smoothie this badly."

I stared at the glass, then at Plum sitting there
so lonely, so solitary. "The fruit started to
age a bit. Didn't want to throw it away, you
know", Jill said. Plum whimpered how he
never gathered the courage fast enough
to tell Pear how he felt. That he should have been
a bit more earnest in his endeavors.

I looked at the smooth mixture
of my friends; the aroma caught my nose. Texture
wasn't too thick or thin; perfect. Jill always made the best
smoothies. Took a sip and savored the taste.
Looked back at Plum, shook my head.

He should have said something before this
tasty end came about. Jill finished her glass and,
on walking out the room, grabbed Plum, smacked my
rear end and took a bite into the last of my friends.
He didn't holler for the pain and I stood
there, dripping and dazed. I took another sip.