Winter is Here

Apples and Oranges

Leonard was now almost at the front of the lunch line. He was so nervous, it felt as if he had a huge sand bag tied to each of his ankles and there was a weird moth gnawing at his abdomen from the inside out. However, his excitement kept him positive and he focused on the alleged joy he was soon to experience. 

It was finally time; that last step forward to the front of the line was undoubtedly the hardest, but he smiled from ear to ear as he received a shiny red apple on his tray.

Most of the pressure had been lifted when his imaginary sandbags disappeared and he quickly made his way to an empty table. Impatiently, he took the apple and sunk his incisors into it. Slightly disappointed that he didn't get a gush of flavorful juice as he'd been led to believe. 

He chewed slowly. He took another bite, this time the flavour coated his tongue and there was sweet juice dripping too. Not able to contain his excitement, he devoured the apple hastily.

"Wow, that was more amazing than some of the stories I overheard in my early teens," he mumbled to himself.

 Leonard reclined in his chair with a big smile plastered on his face, clearly showing his satisfaction.

He was overly contented, that he became lost in a wilderness of thoughts and didn't see that the clean up crew had already started their rounds in the cafeteria. A banging noise brought him back to reality as a lunch lady took his tray and threw the remains in a mobile bin she was pushing. He saw when the orange fell off his tray and into the bin, but since he was still in a trance after having his first apple, it was almost as if the orange didn't even exist.

Leonard had successfully completed his rite of passage and could proudly say he was now a man, who has had a taste of an apple. This one ritual usually makes or breaks a young man and sets him down a certain path, based on how much he desired apples. 

All the high school freshmen across the country went through this very important lunch ritual. Even though it was such an important one, it was not one for show or necessarily public broadcast. It was rather intimate and personal. 

Our friend Leonard attended the prestigious Mt. Renegade Boys Preparatory, where each student received an apple and an orange each day for lunch. 

It's now been two years since that fateful day when Leonard savoured his first apple, but now he can't even remember life before enjoying apples. Throughout the past two years, Leonard had thoroughly been exploring all the apples that Mt. Renegade had to offer and he was amazed at the variety he encountered. He had them in different sizes, different colours, some very sweet and juicy, some a bit bland, he even had sour apples twice (his least favourite) and he found that the texture varied among them too. He made friends at school who loved apples just as much as him. So they came up with different ways to cheat the system to get more than one apple each day. They worked hard to build their reputation, until the lunch lady started giving them two sets of fruits in one lunch break. They even broke the rules to share their apples among themselves and to take bites out of other students' apples when they weren't looking. It was as if Leonard had somehow developed a slight addiction, nevertheless he was quite pleased with his life and looked forward to a lifetime of enjoying apples and apples only.

Now a senior in school, his goal was to enjoy 3 different apples all by himself at lunch break, therefore securing the big bang he needed to cement his reputation before he graduated.

It was now October, the cool winds could be felt throughout the day at Mt. Renegade. The trees' colours were ever changing and Leonard always enjoyed the view, while eating his apple in the cafeteria. Today however, was a very gloomy afternoon; the sky was hidden behind clouds and faded thunder could be heard from a distant. To make matters worse, Leonard had been scolded by the principal as soon as he got to school and his parents were notified yet again of his lack of discipline. He is going to have to take another lecture from his dad tonight; and worse of all, his dad may punish him by taking away his smartphone and other gadgets.