The Littlest Cantaloupe

I went out into my backyard this morning for some reason or another, and spotted this out of the corner of my eye in my garden.

I had thought all the vines were long dead, but here it was, bright orange, perfectly ripe, perfectly spherical. The littlest cantaloupe.

What could I do? I cut it open. Its seeds, sure enough, were full-size.

Its flesh smoothly faded from the orange rind to a spring green and back to orange at the center. I scooped out the seeds and filled it with a little ball of red grape-white wine sorbet, and a sprig of Mexican mint.

Then I ate it. All three bites of it. It was delicious. All the flesh, green and orange, was perfectly ripe, juicy, and sweet.

And then it was gone.