Pilgrims by Gilbert Elizabeth

Author:Gilbert, Elizabeth [Gilbert, Elizabeth]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Fiction - General, Fantasy, Literary, American Contemporary Fiction - Individual Authors +, United States, United States - Social life and customs - 20th century, Short Stories (single author), Short stories; American, Short Stories, Women
ISBN: 9780143113379
Publisher: Penguin
Published: 2007-09-25T04:00:00+00:00

“Well, I’m not fighting with y’all about it,” Jimmy said. “I

don’t fight with people who don’t know what’s good for them.”

Jimmy threw his sack of campaign buttons up over his shoulder and walked on down the docks.

“We vote for DiCello here!” Hector called after him. “We’re

not stupid!”

“The hell with you, then!” Jimmy called back cheerfully.

Then Jimmy Moran stole a few beautiful Haitian mangos from

a fruit display and dropped them into his jacket pocket. Jimmy

had learned from Hispanics that Haitian mangos are the best

for eating by hand, because their flesh is not stringy. Grafton’s

didn’t usually have good fruit, but these were exceptional, gorgeous mangos, with minty green skins just turning a soft banana

yellow. There were guys who had worked in the Bronx Terminal

Vegetable Market for years and never tasted a fresh vegetable or

fruit in their lives. It was sad, really. These were guys who would

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p i l g r i m s

all die of heart attacks at fifty because they ate beef and bacon

every day instead of the fruits and vegetables that were all over

the place. Consider Hector’s friend Ed, for example, sitting in

front of a warehouse full of broccoli, eating hamburgers. A heart

attack waiting to happen.

Jimmy Moran, on the other hand, ate everything, because he

was in love with vegetables. His mother had always raised beautiful vegetables, and he would eat anything. He used to work as

a crate stacker in a big cooler full of fresh herbs, and he would

even eat parsley in bunches. He ate radishes and cauliflowers

like they were apples. He would even take a small artichoke,

peel off the tough outer leaves, and eat the rest of the artichoke

whole and raw. He ate more vegetables than a hippie. People

thought he was crazy.

On this night, he walked out of Grafton Brothers, eating

Haitian mangos the Puerto Rican way. First, he massaged and

squeezed the mango with his thumbs until the flesh was soft

and pulpy beneath the skin. He worked the fruit with his

thumbs until it had the consistency of jelly. Then he bit a small

hole in the top and sucked out the insides. Sweet like coconut.

Foreign-tasting, but nice.

In the next hours, Jimmy Moran campaigned through the

wholesale houses of Dulrooney’s, Evangelisti & Sons, DeRosa

Importers, and E & M Wholesalers. He introduced himself to

all the workers and made small talk with them. He talked to

one poor fool who’d just spent his whole life’s savings on a

greyhound dog, and to another guy whose teenage daughter

had cancer, and to a lucky son of a gun who was going on

vacation to Bermuda. He talked to a whole lot of guys who told

him he must be crazy to run for president against a mobbed-up

animal like Joseph D. DiCello.

As he walked, he ate a handful of baby zucchini he’d stolen

off a display at Evangelisti & Sons. Each zucchini was no

158 ✦

At the Bronx Terminal Vegetable Market

longer than his littlest finger and tenderly flavorful in the sort of

salty way that a big squash would never be. These were delicious

raw, and the only kind of squash that didn’t need any dip or

sauce to have a flavor.

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