Because We’re Good People
I was hosting a dinner party, and for reasons I can’t recall now, it became a matter of life and death that I had lemons.
All the shops were shut. It was a public holiday.
Then I remembered: there was a lemon tree two blocks away in someone’s front yard.
Years later, I told this story to Joss — the way you share a thousand small things when you first fall in love.
“People who plant lemon trees in their front yard,” I said, “must be good people.”
Months later, she led me out to the back porch of her rental apartment. There stood a lemon tree in a pot. Tied to it was a tag that read:
“Because we’re good people. Happy Birthday.”