Repeat Offender

When I arrived in Kerala, I immediately started to buy my fruits and vegetables from the shop around the corner because it is in a convenient location, but it was an easy habit to form because the owner has been so nice to me. He has even taking to calling me “friend” through the curtain of bananas that hangs between us and I crouch to see him as we discuss the weather.

When he is busy with large restaurant orders and cannot serve me immediately, he makes me sit inside his produce fort on a blue plastic chair and hands me an orange to eat. I have learned during my time in south India that it is often better to comply than to question, so I do as I am told. My patience is rewarded because my small order is always ready before I finish the last sweet segment.

From this vantage point behind the stacks of pineapples and surrounded by baskets of potatoes, I can see that the wire mesh door at the back of the shop. It leads out to the neighbors yard- a yard that doubles as a paddock for a horse that I have come to learn shares my keen interest in local produce.

One day last week the neighbor horse stuck its head through the open shop door and gingerly plucked produce from the shelf with a skill that revealed him to be a repeat offender. I almost fell off my orange eating chair in amazement. I tattled on him and regretted it instantly as I watched his head being folded back out the door with open palms.

I have been to buy fruit several times since, but now I focus on my orange and watch for the horse out of the corner of my eye, hoping to see him make a grab for it again. I want to make it up to him, share the secret, help him make a clean get-away this time, but I think the moment is passed.