Everything’s a Metaphor
Added 2020-11-15 00:01:12 +0000 UTCWhile searching for something, I dove my hand into the bottom of a pouch on my backpack that I haven’t had to use even once since quarantine started eight months ago.
This is the backpack I’ve used to haul my laptop and lunch and gym clothes to my office downtown every weekday for however many years it’s been since I wore out my last one. When I still rode my bike in the rain, I’d line it with plastic bags to protect the contents while I made the 45 minute trek downtown (downhill) and just over an hour to return home (uphill).
Biking in the rain up and down hills is a young person’s game though, and somewhere in my early 30s I got too tired to make the trip even in good weather, so now I just take the bus roundtrip with my backpack full of my supplies to survive the day.
Or, I did. Until lockdown locked us all down.
So, here I was with my hand in the front pocket of my backpack that I literally have not so much as looked at for the last eight months and I feel something... interesting.
You’d think that an abandoned apple would liquify if left to its own devices, but this guy was SOLID. He had a little give to him when you squeezed, but otherwise he felt firm and dry and cool and actually the wrinkles created a soothing texture to run your fingers over.
Matt refused to stroke it, even though I demonstrated that nothing squidgy would happen. Whatever. His loss.
I don’t even remember what I had been looking for originally, I am completely consumed with this amazing apple. How did it do this? What is its secret? Is it a metaphor? Of course it’s a metaphor. Everything’s a metaphor.
The metaphor of this apple is that you can be locked away and forgotten in a deep dark place for far, far, far longer than you should be able to survive but- SURPRISE, BTCHES- you DO survive because you’re a fucking resilient little apple. Sure, you look a bit rough, and you’re probably not actually edible anymore, but you’re HERE and you’re SOLID and your cool, firm, wrinkled skin is actually surprisingly pleasant to stroke.
Good job, you resilient little apple, you.
Good job.
Comments
Aw, thank you ♥
Erika Moen
2020-11-20 22:05:06 +0000 UTC"Your backpack is an accidental root cellar!" --You're not wrong, it's practically the size of one!
Erika Moen
2020-11-20 22:04:50 +0000 UTCWhaha! Thank you ;)
Erika Moen
2020-11-20 22:04:24 +0000 UTCOoooooh! Man, I'd totally try a nitrogen storage apple.
Erika Moen
2020-11-20 22:03:53 +0000 UTCI actually super appreciate that <:) Thank you ♥
Erika Moen
2020-11-20 21:56:13 +0000 UTC♥
Erika Moen
2020-11-20 21:53:23 +0000 UTCLOLOLOL
Erika Moen
2020-11-20 21:53:07 +0000 UTCA funny story, but there really is a lot of meaning in your words. Let's hope that we all survive in this quarantine, and when it ends we will all come out a little rumpled, but full of strength.
VitAnyaNaked
2020-11-15 21:02:47 +0000 UTCYour backpack is an accidental root cellar! We used to bake with the wrinkly ones! (Except russets - they're best a little wrinkled!)
M Aidan
2020-11-15 19:32:01 +0000 UTCApple last a good while, they used to be packed in sawdust and left in root cellers for a year or more at a time. As long as they're cool and dry they're amazingly resilient - much like the people that happen upon then every once in a while. Enjoy each other, however you feel best doing it. 😂
Barmp
2020-11-15 10:15:40 +0000 UTCDefinitely possible. Last year was good for apples, with way too many to eat or otherwise process. A good number of them just went into cardboard boxes and left in a cold dark place. A trick is to partially separate them with e.g. newspaper. That way if one goes bad, it's less likely to spread. Anyway, my mom ate the last of those apples not long before the first of this season's were ready. They wrinkle a bit, but below the skin they're just fine.
Peter Jensen
2020-11-15 01:54:17 +0000 UTCWrinkled apples line that are the best apples! It’s like the grapes that make ice wine - they lose moisture and get a more concentrated flavor. Apples sitting on their own in enclosed space without other sources of ethylene can last a long time. There was an orchard I used to visit where the owner said he’d keep some apples in cold storage in a nitrogen filled tank for a couple of years and they’d come out much better than right off the tree. Disclaimer, he could have been selling me a line, but the two apples he had me try (stored vs one he picked in front of me) had a considerable difference in crispness and flavor, in the stored one’s favor.
Joshua
2020-11-15 01:39:49 +0000 UTCI love OJST and everything your mission represents for the good of the world. And yet, I love these vignettes even more. More? Just as much? I just love it. Thank you for being an honest beacon for the true expression of self
Hartly
2020-11-15 01:36:37 +0000 UTCI appreciate this metaphor, especially today.
The Ferret
2020-11-15 01:03:33 +0000 UTCI love you and I thought this was a PUMPKIN.
Danielle Corsetto
2020-11-15 00:58:05 +0000 UTCIt’s probably still edible. A lot of apples are bred for long storage and can be good up to a year after harvest. Apples are older then refrigerators.
Erin Dekker
2020-11-15 00:04:26 +0000 UTCIt's mummified itself!
AniOne
2020-11-15 00:03:36 +0000 UTC
