“Apples”

Ah yes, apples. The juicy, sweet, and crunchy fruit everyone loves. I too love it so much that I’ll fight for it if it’s ever the last food available on earth. There are a lot ways you can cook it. You can make it into a pie. Make it as a jam for your toast. Or as the trending TikTok fruit recipe, the “tanghulu” or you can eat it as it is, raw and fresh.

That may be so, but I’ve experienced something when I was 17 that changed my perspective of apples forever. Especially the raw sliced ones. It was so life changing that until this very day whenever I saw apples or thought about that moment, I begin to have certain flashbacks and give me second thoughts that it almost make me lose my appetite. Alright, I’ll now tell the story.

I was 17 at the time (I guess?) and I was cleaning our kitchen. The first thing that I was planning to do was to wash the dishes. So, I looked around and gathered all the dirty kitchenware I saw and throw it on the sink, we’ll not literally like “angry throwing”. On our counter table was a transparent cover. Inside the cover, I saw chopped onions, garlic, carrots, and a yellowish almost brown type of vegetable...or was it a vegetable? Although the cover covering the sliced ingredients was transparent, it is not as clear as a clear glass of wine that you opt to drink every Friday night.

Out of curiosity I opened the cover and took one piece of it. It was sliced into strips and when I smell it, there was no scent to it. Since that’s the case and basing on the look of it, I said to myself, “ just as I thought, it’s an apple!” then I shove the piece straight into my mouth without a second thought . It tasted funny but it has some crunch to it so I didn’t mind it all. While washing the dishes, I eat one to two pieces everytime I got the chance. Like scrub a plate, then crunch, then scrub again. It goes on and on.

A few minutes later, I stopped taking a piece or two from time to time because my uncle came and opened the transparent cover “We can’t fry this anymore” he said in a serious tone while looking at the ingredients.“Huh? Why?!” I asked, confused. “These were the potatoes I sliced last night, I was planning to make french fries out of these but I forgot” He took the yellowish almost brown sliced potatoes (that I’ve been eating) and putted it into a container then mixed it in the dog food that was being cooked.

It was the most shocking revelation I had in my 17 years of living at that time! Anyways, I continued with doing what I am supposed to do then let the day pass by. The following day, I woke up then my stomach starts to ache. So painful as if I was being punched in the gut during a boxing match. I got out of bed and went out of my room. Mind you that before entering the bathroom, you have to go through the kitchen first. And as soon as I walk to the kitchen, there it is, my aunt cooked scrambled eggs with small pieces of potatoes and some sliced real apples this time on a separate platter.

I, I can’t look at it again! Because as I looked at it again, it made my stomach churn and I bolted to the bathroom. Ever since that happened, every time I see chopped potatoes or apples, I’m having second thoughts and always ask someone what it is actually before I shove it into my mouth or sometimes I volunteer to slice the apples myself as assurance that it’s not potatoes.