Want Another Cherry?

8:00 in the morning was entirely too early to be getting up on a summer Saturday. Stretching until all the popping stopped. Lucy began to feel a bit more human. Her cat Simon jumped up on the bed, purring and rolling all over her.

“Someone’s awake this morning.” She said, running her fingers in circles on either side of Simon’s head. “You happy to see me, or are you just telling me it’s time for me to get up and feed you?” She stroked down the side of the seal-point-colored cat and he somewhat rolled up around her hand. “That’s what I thought. You just want food.” She set her book off the bed and started to throw off the covers. “Come on boy, You’ve got to scoot. Scoot. Get down!” Lucy unceremoniously swept the cat off the bed and flipped the blankets back to finally slide out of her antique bed.

She went through her morning routine and found Sebastian sunning himself in the bay window. Lucy was surprised that he hadn’t joined Simon in kneading her to welcome her to the day.

“Chow time.” She called, opening a fresh can of “Meaty Bits and Gravy.” Suddenly, Sebastian was interested in what she was doing and was weaving around her feet, “Meowing.” He was a big. tortoiseshell, calico cat, and his meows tended to sound like there was an “r” in the middle – more or a “mrowr,” but more drawn out.

Lucy tossed the can in the garbage and turned to get some toaster pastries for herself. “Breakfast of champions,” she told the boys. At that point, the phone rang.

She turned to the red princess line phone hanging on the kitchen wall and started trying to untangle the kinked-up cord as she answered it. “Yello?”

“HI! A cheery voice called from the other end. “You’re up!”

“Yeah, Simon wanted food. The little beggar!” Lucy watched the cats gulping their food.

“Good for Simon! He got you up so we can go to the market.”

She glanced up at the big calendar on the refrigerator to try and find the date and whether it was written in. “Was that today?

“You know it is. How long is it going to take you to get ready?” the voice asked. “I know it always takes you longer.”

“Oh, ha, ha. All I have to do is get dressed.”

“So an hour?

“Come on over. I’ll be dressed before you get here.”

“Whose car are we taking. I’ve got all my thrift store stuff in there.” the voice said.

“I’ve got my painting equipment in mine, but I’ve probably got more room than you do. We can work it out when you do.” with that, Lucy hung up the phone and padded off into her room to get dressed.

Kathy, a rotund woman with short, dark hair showed up in 20 minutes. There was a stark contrast between her and her taller, very slim friend, Lucy. Lucy was dressed as promised, and they settled on taking Lucy’s hatchback after all. Parking at the City Market was more than difficult. They circled blocks on both east and west ends of the market. Parking was inventive to say the least. Finally, a spot appeared and Kathy and Lucy set out with their bags.

“Are you after anything in particular? Lucy asked.

“I just want to see what’s available.” Kathy snapped the little purse where she’d been checking on her cash stash and dropped it into one of her bags

They addressed the first of the market pavilions and started to head down the row.

“Do we go back and forth?” Lucy hadn’t been before, but Kathy was an old hand.

“Either way,” Kathy responded. “ You can go down one side then the other or go back and forth. It doesn’t matter. We can just start here and go on down.”

The first booth was selling chicks, chickens, and eggs. They passed. The next booth had some interest, There was fruit, Kathy selected peaches, and while she was settling up with the owner Lucy noticed some rich, dark, cherries. They were a very good price and Lucy bought a pound of cherries. Kathy found out about the cherries, and she bought some too.

They went on along the row, finding beautiful fruit and vegetables, peanut butter, and jams, breads and pastries. There were all kinds of people shopping, and cute kids either dressed up and delightful, or dirty little urchins. But all along they kept finding cherries. Rich, dark cherries, calling to them for hardly anything compared to their store prices. Their bags were full, and they carried brown paper bags from the vendors, allowing them to buy more. A smattering of fruits, and even some vegetables, but oh, those cherries!

As Kathy and Lucy wound through the pavilions and checked out the market buildings, they became exhausted. Their arms drooped and their feet were sore from standing on the pavement. As they came down the end of the market and back toward the car, there was one more Table set up. An asian woman wearing a worn apron covered in large, showy marigolds was minding the set-up. She had a few vegetables, and there, at the end of the table, she had cherries!

Lucy checked out the items displayed and asked about the asparagus.

“That’s a great price!” she said, and promptly bought two bundles. She also picked up half a dozen tomatoes. She felt kind of sorry for the woman being set out here separate from the main part of the market.

Kathy waited and bought cukes and zucchini, then she noticed what was in the bin at the end of the table labeled four pounds for one dollar. Cherries! She groaned. “Lucy, look!”

Lucy turned and saw what Kathy was pointing to. Her reaction was to laugh. “How many do you think we have now?”

Mirthfully, Kathy answered “I don’t know! But four pounds for a dollar…” She spoke to the woman working the stand. “I’ll take a dollar’s worth.”

Lucy lightly tapped her on the arm. “Kathy!” She waited for the woman to finish and she said, “I’ll take a dollar’s worth.” She accepted her fruit and they headed to the car. “Okay, that’s eight pounds. I know I probably bought five pounds at a guess before that. You probably did about the same thing I did, what are we going to do with 18 pounds of cherries?”

Kathy laughed. “Well, I see a lot of cherry-pitting in the future. Frozen cherries are great, and they can be cooked so many ways I see a lot of cherries ahead of us.”

Lucy drove back out to Kathy’s apartment where they brought all their purchases in and scattered them out on the floor. Kathy pulled out the big plastic zip bags to split up and share veggies and fruits. And then, grouped all together on the floor, were the cherries, a large pile of bags. They were kind of overwhelmed by the thought of all the cherries and trying to use or store them before they would go bad.

Kathy said “I think it’s time to start attacking some cherries.” And Lucy got up from the couch and headed into the kitchen with a paper bag of cherries.

In the kitchen, Lucy found a couple of large plastic bowls and divided cherries into each, rinsing both bowls. She grabbed paring knives, napkins and the trashcan and headed back to Kathy.

Kathy accepted the bowl of cherries and held up the TV remote. “I have some new Tom Baker tapes if you’re interested.”

Lucy smiled big and said “The Doctor? Yeah, I’ll watch him.”

So, Lucy and Kathy began cleaning cherries and eating cherries, tossing the stems into the trashcan, and spitting the pits into the napkins. The Doctor was playing on video, and neither one was paying attention to how much she ate.

Then suddenly, the effect of the cherries hit. “I’ve got to use the facilities,” Lucy said. and jumped up and headed to the bathroom.

“Lucy, only one bathroom!” Kathy called, squirming in her seat.” She popped another cherry in her mouth, thinking “these things are addictive!”

“Oh my gosh!” Lucy called as she came out of the bathroom.

Kathy rose and met her in the hallway. “Maybe I shouldn’t ask this, but, want another cherry?”