Ty and Pineapples
It was her sixteenth birthday and Ty had never tried a pineapple before. It’s not that they were uncommon in Crann, but rather her father -- Arthur -- was allergic to them. Now, on her birthday, she was at a campsite. Her father and his silly allergies were nowhere in sight and her best friend, Allison, had brought them a large pineapple to slice open.
When Ty picks it up to move it to the makeshift chopping board, the first thing she notices is it’s surprising weight. Of course it would be heavy, she chastises herself, but nonetheless her surprise leads to a light singe of the leaves. The rest of her friends back away, knowing how she can get when she grows frustrated.
“What do I do first?” Ty asks, grabbing a large knife from one of their bags. She’s not sure who it belongs to, but at this point it doesn’t really matter; she can feel her mouth watering for the exotic fruit.
“Um,” Alison hums, dragging her finger across her phone screen as she sifts through instructions. “I guess you just cut the top and bottom off. I don’t know why my parents made it seem like it was difficult or whatever.”
Used to cooking at home, Ty picks up the knife with ease, bringing it down with a practiced swing. Her eyebrow twitches upwards when it gets stuck mid-way through.
“Do you need help?” She hears someone say from the crowd around her, though she’s too invested in the yellow monstrosity before her.
“Of course not,” she says, voice hard. “Just thicker than I thought it would be. What’s this thing made of anyways?” No one responds as she takes another swing at the top, slicing it clean off. The bottom goes better, now that she understands how much force she has to put behind each stroke. “C’mon Ali, what else do you have for me?”
“Trim off the rind-- the skin.”
Ty twirls around to face the girl, knife waving precariously in the air. “I know what the rind is.” With a glare and a half smile, she turns back to her task. The rind comes off, though even that is more difficult than she imagined. “If I didn’t know better, I'd say that this fruit doesn’t want to be eaten."
“Now slice it in half. And then in half again. Then take out the core--”
“Let me actually do it before you move on, girl.” The knife slides easily between the fleshy part of the pineapple, though the core is a little more difficult to get through. “Next.”
“You just want to cut them into pieces now. It says to cut them into wedges at an angle and then--”
“I know how to cut things up.” Not facing them, she gives herself a smirk. “Just ask Jason.” She makes quick work of turning the quarters into about three strips each; once she realizes that she probably should actually use the angle, that is. “Someone get me a plate or something.” When no one responds, she turns back around, shaking her head. Her unused hand finds its way to her hip. “Really? You bring fruit but nothing to serve it on?”
“Like this is the first time you’ve eaten off a tree stump,” Jason calls from the crowd, earning him a laugh from everyone. Including Ty.
“Alright, fine. Here we go,” She says, turning back around. “Time for the first try.” She carefully picks up one of the better looking pieces and places it in her mouth. Her eyes close and she chews it for a few moments before spitting it out. “This is fucking disgusting!”
Sprint for NaNoWriMo July 2019, with the dare of "Create a scene in which your character goes through the extremely tedious process of cutting a pineapple".
Characters:
Ty
Alison
Jason
Comments