"Overripe"- by Regina Choi
- Teen Writing
- Nov 1
- 2 min read
Waiting for fruit to ripen is like waiting for a limited time reward.
I placed a mango near the window where the sunlight hit it all day, hoping that it would ripen just right. I checked it daily, trusting that this time I’d finally get the timing right. But just five days later, it had gotten beyond ripened. The flesh caved in at the slightest touch, a sour and fermented scent escaping through the skin into the kitchen. It was unsalvageable–no longer fruit, just rot.
The worst feeling anyone could feel is knowing that you spent too much time and money waiting for a friendship to finally feel good, only to realize that it is rotten and can’t be saved. Even when I try to wait for my friendships to ripen, the mango turning bad is what it felt like holding on to my friendship with him.
I spent $7 on that mango, but it only took five days for it to go bad. I wish it had only taken me five days to realize our friendship had spoiled.
We were friends for over ten years and classmates for three. I should have stopped earlier, but I was unfortunate enough to remain friends with him for nine more years after first grade. When we were younger, it felt like the kind of friendship you’d expect to last forever. We played the same games at school every day, running around the playground and going home to call each other even after being together all day. Even though sweet moments like these felt like a routine, every second with him eventually felt like I was getting stabbed. Yet, finally throwing it away still made me feel worse.
Everyone’s been told that a fruit still has time, even when it’s already soft and starting to go bad. Just cut off the bad part, every mom says. But even mine could see this one was too far gone; there wasn’t anything left worth saving.
Mangoes can rot in as little as 5 days. Over the course of ten years, by the time I realized our relationship had spoiled and the sweetness had turned sour, I couldn’t bring myself to let it go. I couldn’t accept that all that time would be wasted. I couldn’t accept that there wasn’t any part of the mango that could be saved. But you can’t eat rotten fruit without getting sick, and I couldn’t keep that rotten friendship unless I wanted to rot with it.
