Laura’s favorite fruit was cherries. She was absolutely obsessed with them. She had cherry lip-gloss, cherry shampoo and conditioner, cherry perfume, cherry bed sheets, her favorite purse was black with a cherry design on them. When our family would go out for ice cream, she would get a sundae and specially ask for five cherries. Not four, five. The Christmas when I was in fifth grade and she was in sixth, I had completely forgotten to get her a present. So I jumped on my bike and pedaled as fast as I could to the grocery store and got her a bag of cherries and a jar of maraschino cherries and stuffed them under the tree in a grocery bag with her name on it, all in the dark of Christmas Eve. When she opened my present, she stood up and gave me the biggest hug and claimed I was the best little brother in the whole world.


Now this girl sitting next to me smells like cherries. I want to punch her.