The Orange

Ages 12-15

Gitel peels an orange in one piece for her little brother, and the peel breaks twice.

He has asked for it. He sits on the kitchen floor with his legs out, and watches. He has seen their grandfather do it, in one long curl, so the skin comes off in a single piece.

She cuts a line round the middle with her thumbnail. She works the nail under the skin, and begins to turn the orange. It comes away in a strip. At the half it snaps.

"It broke," he says.

She starts again, at the break. The strip is thinner. It goes round the orange twice, and the pith catches, and it tears.

She puts the orange down on the table. She picks it up. She holds it still, and pulls with the slow turn, a little at a time, and the peel comes away in one spiral, with the white side turned out.

It lies on the plate, curled up on itself. The fruit is bare and shining in her hand.

He looks at the peel. He reaches for it, and holds it up, and the spiral hangs from his fingers.

She breaks off a segment and holds it out. He takes it without looking, and eats, and goes on watching the peel turn on his hand.