Average Jane’s Error in Judgment

My husband and I went to my aunt’s house on Sunday afternoon.  As we prepared to leave, she said, "You have to try these."

She handed me what looked like two tiny, elongated oranges and said they were kumquats.  I’d heard of them but never tried one before.  Despite her assurance that they were delicious and could be eaten peel and all, I thanked her and tucked them into my purse for further consideration. 

Yesterday morning I noticed an odd odor.  At first I thought it was something in the house, but it followed me to work and intensified when I opened my purse.  It smelled like…a rotten orange.  Aaagh!  I’d forgotten to take the kumquats out of my purse!

My purse is at a record low for excess junk, but it was still a challenge to locate even one of the kumquats.  The second one was still more difficult to find because, well, it was the odor culprit and it had turned grey and fuzzy.  Ick.

The pungent smell permeated my purse and all its contents to the extent that removing the source had minimal effect.  I can only hope that airing it out will help eventually because there’s not much more than can be done.

That was my lesson for the week:  Don’t put food in your purse. 

Would I have told this story if the fruit in question had been limes or plums?  Perhaps not.  A legitimate chance to use a funny word like "kumquat" is impossible to resist.  Say it with me:  "Kumquat, kumquat, kumquat."

</silliness>  Thank you.