Quenepas - Tasty but Dangerous
Ponce is famous for its quenepas, a very tasty fruit extremely rich in phosphorus and iron. In fact, it is the city’s official fruit and Ponce hosts an annual quenepa festival in the town plaza. Of course, I had to include something about them in Sebastián. Here is an excerpt from Chapter 19.
Late one Saturday afternoon in July, Sebastián and Francisco were relaxing on the Laboys’ front porch and supervising Pilar while Sebastiana cooked their supper and Deli napped in her crib. Both men enjoyed this time of unwinding and catching up with each other after their long six-day work week. The tinkling of a bell and an intermittent calling out of “¡Quenepas!” announced an approaching fruit peddler. Sebastián walked out to the gate to purchase a bunch from the elderly man. He had tried them for the first time the previous year and had been looking forward to the start of quenepa season this year.
“Taste one to see how good it is,” the peddler offered, and Sebastián willingly obliged. The small, round fruit was encased in a thick, green skin, similar to that of an avocado. Sebastián bit into the smooth skin to open it and popped the fleshy orange orb into his mouth. He was instantly rewarded with a burst of sweet/tart flavor from the gelatinous pulp.
“Mmm!” he said, nodding his approval. He paid the man and returned to the front porch with the hefty bunch of quenepas. As he was ascending the porch steps, he could hear Deli wailing from her crib. Francisco got up to tend to her since he knew that his wife was busy in the kitchen.
“¿Qué son esos, Tío Tan?” asked a curious Pilar, as she got up from the porch floor where she had been playing.
“What are these? You never tasted a quenepa? You have to try one, Mija.” So saying, Sebastián snapped one from its stem, split the skin open and handed the fruit to his niece. He sat down in one of the rocking chairs to observe her reaction when she tasted it. Pilar popped the fruit into her mouth. Her eyes widened, and she emitted a delighted, “Mmm!” Sebastián grinned at her.
A moment later, he gasped as he heard a gurgling sound coming from Pilar’s throat. The slippery pit had gone down into her throat and she was choking! The little girl’s eyes showed her panic. She had one hand in her mouth and was reaching out with the other hand to clutch frantically at her uncle’s arm.
“Luisa,” began Rosa, “I couldn’t help but notice that Chenta is expecting another baby. I guess when I saw her five weeks ago it either was not so obvious, or I was just unaware of anything but Micaela at that time. When is she due?”
“I don’t know for sure,” replied Luisa. “You know that she never talks about these things. She has a round figure anyway, which is probably why you did not notice it before, but now it is at the stage where there is no denying it.”
“I would think that she only has two or three months left,” observed Petra. “What are they going to do? You are already bursting at the seams at that house.”
“I have been wondering that myself,” Luisa admitted. “The babies always stay with Papá and Chenta until another baby comes, but there is no other place to put Mina at this time. I suppose that they can leave Mina in their room while the new baby still fits in the cradle. After that, I do not know. We already have four girls in one room and three boys in another. It does not seem right to put Mina in with the boys, even if she is only a year old.”
Petra turned from the stove and wiped her hands on her apron. With a huge smile on her face and a wink she said, “Well, now that we are talking about babies…guess what?”
“What?” exclaimed both Rosa and Luisa at the same time.
“No!” gasped Luisa.
“Yes,” affirmed Petra.
With squeals, the sisters threw their arms around each other in a three-way hug.
