It is late afternoon in early July.
Lightning bolt streaks through the sky, thunder claps.
Large drops of rain blow in from the windows and the doorway.
Hail, larger than a pea, smaller than a marble- smack the windows,
Hail, bounces off the roof and the ground.
The rain slows and then begins again forcefully, but now only the rain falls.
Steam rises off the ground, like grey clouds trying to return to the sky.
Gutters spill over and out, rain turns into waterfalls.
Ripened apricots are shaken and fall freely to the ground.
The rain slows; the once booming thunder now only rumbles.
Fifteen minutes have passed since it began.
Rain ends nearly as abruptly as it started.
The sky brightens and returns to its brilliant blue.
The apricot tree, now drenched, is heavy with wet foliage and wet fruit.
Its limbs lowered, offering its ripened fruit at its feet and in its arms.
To Bake:
16 Fresh Apricots – pitted and halved
1 cup Brown Sugar
1/3 box Club Crackers (about 40 crackers)
Grease the bottom of a small baking pan. (8” x 8”)
Line ½ the apricots in pan. Sprinkle ½ of sugar and ½ of crackers.
Dot top with butter
Repeat layers ending with butter.
Bake uncovered -325* F – about 40 minutes. Serve warm plain or with vanilla ice cream.
Copyright © 2017- Molly Cox
Member International Travel Writers & Photographers Alliance
Delia Goetz wrote ‘At Home Around the World’- a 4th Grade Level textbook published by Ginn & Company. This book was one in a series of books published by Ginn & Company -‘Lands and Peoples of the World’, which included multiple volumes for grades 4-7. This series was originally printed in 1958 with reprints in 1961. Ginn & Company at that time was in Boston, MA and is no longer in business. The publishing imprint for Ginn & Company belongs to Pearson Education a publisher based in the UK.