I'll be with you in the squeeze of a lemon

By Chris Ellis

To the outside world I may just be a fruit and veg man. But I like to think of my self as an observer. As solid and reliable as a King Edward, or fun and surprising as a banana. Who ever said, life's like a box of chocolates, was wrong. It's more like my stall, full of promise, pleasing and ripe. But suddenly without warning you'll come across a sour moment, that for a while puts you off wanting more, just like the surprise caterpillar poking its head out of your lettuce.

Work can sometimes be like that, one moment it's just like freshly squeezed orange juice, at others dull, monotonous and regular, like a prune. Over the years I have come to look on my customers as the very fruit I sell. Take Mrs Arkwright, she's a melon, big, firm, with the promise of refreshment. But somehow tastless and disappointing. Or old Mr Shrew, he's a walnut, wrinkled and hard to get into. Then there are the kids, running along like a massed bunch of grapes. That if treated and nurtured properly could turned into a fine wine, full of maturity and chracter. But alas so often end sulphurous and sour.

Then there is my Clementine, I'm sure that's not her name, but that's what she reminds me of. Small and juicy. Each day she would come to my stall, fight her way through the crowds. LIke some fresh dew specked apple, all rosy cheeked. As appetizing as a summers day, or like the first smile of sun after rain.

We would talk, laugh, her voice deep almost husky, with a delicious fuzziness, like a peach tickling the taste buds of desire. But it is all in fun, nothing serious, gone in no more time than it takes to eat a clementine.

So my day would go, watching, matching the faces to the fruit, filling my moments with idle wonder, watching through a sea of bodies. Waiting for that one bright ray of light that would lift my otherwise boring day. A new customer approaches now, a smile of welcome spreads it's way across my own face, in a bright voice I say.

"I'll be with you in a squeeze of a lemon."