Was it a courgette or a cucumber? comes courtesy of a Dean Writers Circle writing workshop, where we were gifted the ambiguous vegetable by one of our group, who has a glut. She insists it’s a courgette – we were not so sure. I still haven’t cut it to find out!
The gifter insisted it was a courgette, but the giftee was dubious. The skin was too smooth, and those telltale bumps – did courgettes have those?
Not ungrateful, whatever it was, the giftee offered profuse thanks and stayed silent about their doubts.
But now, staring at the conflicted vegetable on the kitchen counter, she faced a dilemma. If it was a cucumber, a salad was called for for tonight’s dinner. Chopped with oranges, butterhead lettuce and tossed with a two mustard vinaigrette from one of her many ancient cookbooks.
If it was a courgette? Sliced into a stir fry? Slowly cooked in olive oil with tomatoes, onion, oregano from the garden, and served on melting garlic toast topped with feta – her mouth watered.
The giftee looked at her watch. If she cut through the ‘cucette’ now it’s be fine for a couple of hours. She could decide once the deed was done.
She placed the vegetable on the chopping board, selected a knife from the block and raised the implement …. and hesitated.
No. The mystery was too enticing. Let the ‘cucette’ remain a puzzle for a little longer, hold its mystique like a beautiful woman hidden behind a veil.
Smiling, she placed the smooth skinned mystery in a bowl at the end of the bench, collected a basket from the kitchen table and went into the garden to harvest some courgettes – of known provenance.
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Find Cheryl’s flash fiction and short stories, including audio versions of some, here.