An apple rests on the table, the bland colors of the room giving birth to its vibrancy, mostly red in color with green glazing the upper most part. Synthetic light from the ceiling glints dully off the unwashed waxed skin; and what a skin it is- protecting the apple from the weather as it was growing, holding the fruit and juices together under its color, resonating from it almost like a light, allowing only a portion of the mouth water delicious smell out to tantalize the stomach. Like an abused old baseball, the apple has its imperfections, but that’s what possibly makes it the perfect apple. It’s hard to mistrust the lumpy, dented apple who wears its heart proudly on its stem, showing that yes that apple has a past, and yes, that past has affected the apple. But the past of the apple is still unknown. Did it dent from its handlers, having not realized the perfectly imperfect apple’s perfection, mishandling it while shipping it off to its end? Or maybe the apple dented from falling off the tree, like so many others, unsuccessful in its rolling trek away from Mother after breaking from her grasp. The past of the apple will not matter in its future, however, and that snappy scream it utters will die, slowly, bite after delightful bite. An echo can utter from its remains, like a shuttering breath, as the white insides are crushed to mush, mashed to a delectable paste of half juice that will satisfy a stomach and yet leave it wanting more. And that final ding of its selfless core, realizing its hopeful seeds will not birth the future generations of apples as it hits a garbage can, fated to rot away and yet contented from having been used to sustain the life of another.

These apples, are they not the apple of the eye? They certainly seem to be when compared to other fruits. Such variety in its genome, and yet all a part of one royal group: Apples. When looking at the apples past, one can realize just how vital and important the apple has been, what a hard fruit it is to resist. Loners in the woods, witches, doctors, even our first deceitful mother all agree that it is a powerful fruit. Apples have been known to sway people from the word of God, inspire people to trek across the Appalachian Mountains, provide a girl with an opportunity to find true love while sleeping, and prolong the time between those awful, embarrassing days when you get poked and prodded in nothing but a piece of paper and underwear by a “knowledgeable man”. Such knowledge the man might have gained by eating apples, as it was an apple that was the fruit bared from the tree of knowledge. Quite ironic is it that students might bring back the Fruit of Knowledge to the Bestowers of Knowledge (also known as teachers) so often in life. Regardless, apples, while having a history tainted by the word of God and awful, greedy witches, come out on top and represent a great country’s past time, because nothing is as American as Apple Pie. And should you be amongst the many who treasure the autumn atmosphere, you’d recognize the meaning an apple can hold; they are a happy memory of the youthful and beautiful days of seduction when the flowers on the tree perfumed the air, smiling with their pretty petals and calling out to the bees amongst their orchids. Such inspiration of emotion can be elicited from a ripe, underappreciated fruit, like warmth, a happy and peaceful nostalgia of good times with Apple Crisp after dinner, hot Apple Spice at night, and those warm, never ending cups of apple cider at Grandma’s on lazy Sunday mornings. There is a connection between the historical fruit and people, like the lonely college students wondering where their childhood disappeared to and parents of the college students remembering their children’s’ rosy smiles in the chilly air of October mornings from years past. So whether you’re a hungry princess presented with an apple, or an aging half-adult happy to reminisce fondly over their experiences, you’ll likely find something more in an apple than a friendly snack. Eve had the right idea; why resist its luscious temptation?