The Secret Life of Nectarines

I almost missed it.

I almost sent them to bed at 8:30, even though my daughter was hinting ever-so-discreetly that she would love to stay up and help me.

Sometimes I worry that if I let them stay up, I won't have the self control to be nice. I get to a point where I  need a little space before I go to bed.

But I really needed the help.  Exhausted after a busy, fun-filled day of charter school and park day and a soccer game, I was wishing I could go to bed at 8:30.

But four buckets of overripe nectarines were sitting on my counter, and they were not going to make it through the night.  Something had to be done.

And they WANTED to help.
Its Friday night.

So, I set them up with knives and cutting boards and ziplock bags.

I set myself up on another counter with knife and cutting board and blender.

And I treated myself to over 2 hours of delightful prattle.

First, Daisy was Ruby's horse.  They had some kind of game that Ruby would give Daisy signals, and Daisy would set off racing around the kitchen island.  Ruby would cut up the nectarines, and Daisy would put them in the bag.

Then we got down into the buckets a ways, and the nectarines were not so pretty.  There were lots of parts that needed to be cut off, and a few were so moldy and rotten that they had to be completely discarded.

To them, it was like I was not in the room.  I tried not to listen too closely to their imaginary world.  I didn't want to interfere or break the spell, but I caught delicious little morsels here and there:

"Let's pretend this is the adopting-place where the kids go that they don't want."  (I'm sure she was referring to the ever-growing pile of pits and rotten pieces.)
 "When they come here, we cut off their diseases and stuff."

I tuned in awhile later:
"It was so sad, but I got to go to the dying thing."
     "Oh, you mean the funeral?"
"Yeah, and I got to put the flowers on the grave.  But everyone else only got to put cards on."

As far as I could tell, these were the nectarines talking. 

Several other stories followed, that I was only partially listening to.  Many involved sickness or death.  I remember hearing about a cobra, and one guy was actually dead for 20 years but came back to life. They were sort of one-upping each other, but very courteously saying, "Oh, how sad" after each story. 

    "Well, my sister got married last week, and I got to carry the flowers."
"Well, my cousin got married but she missed it, cause she died."  ( I could not help but exclaim out loud at this one.  Ruby quickly put me to rights by reminding me that there's nothing gross about death.  Even little babies die sometimes, and that's WAY younger than someone getting married. I learned my lesson and kept quiet, but listened more closely.)
The story continued as if I had not interrupted:
"The good thing was that the man was there (at the wedding, I presume), and there was someone else there who wanted to marry him"  (How nice)

      "Once my cousin was fishing, and he caught a shark, but it jumped up and ate him."

     "The other morning our dog woke up really old and sick.  He came into our room and then went outside in our back yard over by the flowers--
"Oh yes, I know where your flowers are--"
              "--and died.  He was trying to tell us goodbye.  It was so sad.  Now we have a new dog that is kind of jumpy and happy, but we don't like it as well."
"Does it bite you?"
             "Well, Sometimes, but our other dog only bit me a few times right when we got it and then he NEVER bit.  This dog only bit me a few times, too."
"But does it bite your husband?"
            "Yeah, it mostly just likes me so it bites my husband."

I remember reading in Little Women and Anne of Green Gables about the girls going through a phase of reading and writing tragic stories.  I guess it is a phase.  I am glad that to them it is still drama and romance.  I know it won't always be.

But their voices were sweet and giggly, and I loved being a part of their magical nectarine world.

And

They were genuinely helpful.
We will have lots of frozen nectarines, nectarine syrup, and dried nectarines preserved for the winter.
A couple of hours of precious memories preserved as well.

...