Forbidden Fruit
July 24th, 2020
Starring: Johnny (male, 20-45, a ghost)
The ghost of Johnny Appleseed sits in an apple tree.
JOHNNY
Boo.
It’s me, Johnny Appleseed.
I’m not very scary. I don’t even haunt anything. I hang out in orchards, mostly.
Nowadays it’s all couples and red wagons and taking photographs.
It can be confusing, being a ghost. Nothing’s settled. I see things change I can’t do much about.
The apple especially. I’ve watched them grow from sprout to fruit to food to the thing on the teacher’s desk to Applebee’s to apple jacks to the phones they use in the orchards.
But of all the things, apple pie surprised me the most. It’s a phenomenon. Symbolic. Patriotic. Is it the fruit? The crust? The tart? The sweet? I still don’t know why.
Maybe there’s nothing special. It just sounds wholesome and feels right and that’s the long and the short of it. The seeds have been planted in our heads that’s what it means.
Maybe I planted them, way back when.
And if I did, then I’m responsible.
And if I am, I should be proud.
And if I’m proud, I should be proud to be American.
…
I mean
That’s how it works, right?