{"id":102766,"date":"2020-04-28T03:16:20","date_gmt":"2020-04-28T03:16:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sayaspora.com\/?p=102766"},"modified":"2025-05-14T10:32:21","modified_gmt":"2025-05-14T14:32:21","slug":"the-rind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sayaspora.com\/en\/the-rind\/","title":{"rendered":"The Rind"},"content":{"rendered":"

Her father retrieved the Valencia orange with one hand while holding a knife in the other. If there was any time where she could move close to her father, it would be now. Facing him, she measured they were roughly an arm\u2019s length apart. When she moved closer, her legs rubbing together made a louder sound than she had hoped. She watched his hands because his eyes were off limits. Her shoulders reached his forearm when he sat hunched over, but she made sure not to lean and risk touching him. When her father examined the orange with a close eye, smelled it, and proceeded to cut the rind, the child\u2019s jaw relaxed.<\/span><\/p>\n

Her eyes moved to the knife separating the rind from the orange. Rind spirals formed and dangled from the fruit. Will he cut all the way around the orange and make a perfect rind spiral without it breaking? Could he?<\/span><\/p>\n

Then, it happened. Halfway around the orange, the spiral broke. As she watched the rind hit the floor, she stifled a noise, waiting to be sure her response was appropriate. Laughing felt right, but she stuffed the sensation in her chest, like an orange seed she hadn\u2019t meant to swallow.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAww!\u201d Her father bellowed. Then\u2014laughter.<\/span>
\n\u201cAww!\u201d Her voice exploded from her throat, like soda from a shaken can.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"OrangesI can only conclude<\/span>
\nthat my family<\/span>
\ndid not believe in the Navel orange.<\/span>
\nI never knew them as a child.<\/span>
\nSo I did not speak Navel.<\/span>
\nI spoke Valencia.<\/span><\/p>\n

My father bought Valencia oranges in boxes.<\/span>
\nFor many years.<\/span><\/p>\n

One could not dig into a Valencia with fingernails. So they had to be cut and there were two ways to do it.<\/span><\/p>\n

1. along the orange sphere<\/span>
\nto reveal a pale white layer<\/span>
\nwith lined remnants<\/span>
\nof orange rind.<\/span><\/p>\n

My father wowed us with<\/span>
\nPerfect orange spirals<\/span>
\nThat dangled like telephone cords<\/span>
\nBefore hitting the floor.<\/span>
\nI longed to cut with such perfection<\/span>
\nBut my knife left cracks and rind patches.<\/span><\/p>\n

The second way to cut<\/span>
\nWas down the middle,<\/span>
\nSe-purr-eight in sections,<\/span>
\nAnd evenly divide them<\/span>
\nAmong my sisters.<\/span>
\nWe held slices between our teeth and<\/span>
\nTransformed into game show contestants<\/span>
\nRed jaguars and silver monkeys,<\/span>
\nwith a Cameroonian flag in our hands<\/span>
\nover our heads.<\/span><\/p>\n

My first Navel orange<\/span>
\nwas from a paper bag<\/span>
\nServed on a school trip.<\/span>
\nI stripped the thick rind<\/span>
\nwith my fingers..<\/span>
\nStringy. bitter.<\/span>
\nI could not accept it.<\/span><\/p>\n

But now I do.<\/span><\/p>\n

I eat navel oranges, unfazed.<\/span>
\nI rub the powdery stickiness<\/span>
\nof residue from my fingers,<\/span>
\nspeaking navel, like I\u2019ve always known how<\/span><\/p>\n

I have not spoken Valencia in decades.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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