When I was between the age of four and five and lived in the community of tiny half-dilapidated apartments, I used to play almost every day with my two best friends. On many days, we played outside, but we also enjoyed playing at each other’s home. Both of my friends had a much larger collection of toys than I did, and I always looked forward to playing at their places.
One of them had a particularly interesting collection of fake food items. As a foodie, I was naturally drawn to them, but my all time favourite was her toy tangerine.
It wasn’t surprising to have a toy orange or tangerine that cut into two pieces, but this one even had a skin. When I opened the skin, the fruit came out, not in just two pieces but in eight pieces – just like a real tangerine. The eight pieces were glued together by self-fasteners and I could ‘eat it’ piece by piece – just like a real tangerine!
I was so in love with this toy tangerine that whenever I was at this friend’s home, I immediately looked for this toy tangerine and carried it around throughout my visit.
Many years later, when my friend and I were in our twenties, we happened to be talking about our childhood memories, and she suddenly said,
“There was a toy that you particularly liked at my place.”
“You mean the toy tangerine?”
I eagerly said.
“That’s right! The toy tangerine!” My friend clapped her hands in excitement. Then she said something totally unexpected.
“You really liked that tangerine and carried it around with you whenever you were at my place. And I was always upset about that. I thought ‘It’s my tangerine! Why is she always holding it?'”
As I burst into laughter, I thought to myself what an interesting after story it was. I had never even dreamed that somebody else was also paying attention to that toy tangerine, let alone upset by seeing me holding it all day long.
This is the memory of this remarkable toy tangerine that left such a strong impression on two girls’ hearts.