“Oranges After the Rain”

Rain-moistened oranges seem appropriate for today’s foto fix, because…. it rained in SoCal today! Yes, it’s been awhile since water fell from the sky here. Everyone’s glad, particularly traffic reporters on the radio. Their jobs aren’t in jeopardy on days like this. Why? Because many in Southern California don’t know how to drive with wet roads, and they instantly become worse drivers, and they crash, which causes gridlock, more frayed nerves, more crashes. It’s a common cycle.

But, that’s not the story I wanted to tell with this picture. Because, more than rain, it reminds me of my criminal past. Yes, I have a criminal past. During a Sunday afternoon stroll through a local botanical garden, I arrived at the orange and avocado grove. It’s sad, I think to myself, seeing all the fruit rotting on the ground. I spy a cluster of oranges hanging fairly low, and twist one off. Bleh! Sour as a lemon. Bleh! I go for what I’m sure is a much sweeter one, peeling it while walking down the path, tossing the peel bits under the trees. Then, it happened. Two maintenance guys zipping along in their electric cart spot me, stop, and ask if I’d purchased my orange in the nursery store. No, I confess, I hadn’t seen a nursery store. I tell of gently plucking my snack off a tree, figuring I was being helpful, saving it from rotting on the ground. Well, I didn’t quite say that. I stammered… I hemmed and hawed, cleared my throat, stared at my feet like a guilty child, scuffed at the dirt with my shoes, twisted my hair into knots… At any rate, one of the guys glared at me, gave me a stern lecture, advised me of a sign near the garden entrance, and then confiscated my orange. He took my orange!

I’ll have to live with the knowledge I committed this crime… forever. And all for the taste of a SOUR orange. I’m sure there’s a moral to this story somewhere. If you find it, please let me know! ~SueBee. Pic by SueBee