Avocado

I couldn't believe I was standing there.  That was the day I had been dreading ever since I learned of its coming. The house guests were coming.  And what was worse, they had a girl my age.  I knew what that meant: I would have to be "friendly" with them all, especially her, until they finally left and I would be free.

The dreaded moment came.  I heard the knock on the door, and I took my position.  I waited in my room until my mother called me.  I wanted one last moment of solitude to myself before I lost a spring.  I waited for my cue ("Oh, she'll be out in a minute, don't worry!") and stepped out into the kitchen, where I greeted our guests with a smile.  I wasn't exactly charming, but what was to be expected from me?   I was never really comfortable around people in the first place, but it didn't help that I hadn't showered after swimming earlier, and that I was wearing my bathing suit cover-up.  There were lemon bars on the table, special ones because one of our guest's daughters was allergic to milk and eggs.  The night passed by fairly tortuously, with games, stories, and many futile attempts to make friends with the teenage girl on my end.

It was later in the night, and the girl and I were in my room trying to make a decent conversation.  Neither of us were very good at it.  We had nothing in common; she liked completely different music from me, she loved make-up and popular clothes (whereas I preferred not to bother and just wear a skirt instead), and she was allergic to cats.  We did both like reading, but not the same kinds at all.  On top of all that, she talked so quietly that I could barely hear her on a regular basis.

I tried again to make a conversation.  I asked her what it was like to be allergic to milk and eggs, only to find out that it was her sister, not her, with the allergy.  Great.  I had just made the biggest idiot out of myself as I possibly could have.  I couldn't tell, but I'm sure my face turned tomato-red, redder than a strawberry  (which, I might add, is very noticeable due to my fair complexion).

I was only starting to think of something to say to make my blunder less obvious when I was distracted by a thump on my mainly-open door.  We both turned.  Something was lying on my floor next to my penny jar.  I picked it up.  It was an avocado.  The girl asked me if that was what I had been thinking.  I replied back that, yes indeed, this was an avocado.  I looked to see where it might have come from.  There was a green splotch on my doorjamb.  One of my brothers had thrown it at us.  We both looked at each other, me with avocado in hand, and burst out laughing.  It was so funny, so weird, so random.  That was exactly the right moment for it to have appeared, too.  I looked at the avocado with new-found meaning.  This little fruit was my savior, the reason I was able to get through the rest of the night.

This just goes to show that we need to expect everything, prepare for the unexpected, and not take for granted those little avocados in life that pass us by each day.