The Crunchy Banana

On our way to church we met an Amish horse and buggy heading for their church services. It was a two seated buggy. The parents on the front seat, a little child sitting on the mother's lap, and an assortment of bonnets and hats visible from the back seat where a number of younger children were packed in.

There was no indication that they recognized us, but immediately my mind took me traipsing down memory lane. The woman was the older sister of my best friend.

Occasionally when my parents would travel out of state, she would come stay with us while they were gone. Making sure we got off to school on time, taking care of any customers that showed up, and helping get the chores done.

One cold October, my parents left to attend a wedding in Michigan, and Mary came to stay with us again. We were in the midst of our first bout of having the cold of the season. Coughing in the middle of the night so bad that it made that Mary couldn't sleep well. The next night she gave us all a choice, apples or bananas, we could take our pick. She instructed us to not eat the entire thing at one time, but only take a bite when ever a coughing spree started to help get rid of it.

I chose an apple, and she decided to take a banana for herself since she was starting the cold as well.

The night passed, I only needed a few bites of the apple, which amazingly worked quite well in ending coughing fits.

Later that night I woke up to a light and weird noises. Mary had taken another bite of her banana, and after it crunched weirdly she discovered she had half way eaten a large bug. Somehow in my sleep addled mind I found it to be hysterical, and laughed so hard I fell out of bed, which in turn made her laugh, which made both of us go on the worst coughing fit of the night.

I smiled as the memory replayed itself, and wondered if she even remembers it. Life has brought so many changes, and though we no longer get to enjoy each other's company I really treasure all those memories, crunchy bananas included.