All Summer Long

It was ugly, a misshapen ball, creviced and bulging on one side as if a hernia had pushed through the lining just beneath its skin - I held it in my hands, lifted it to my nose to get the full depth of its smell then took a bite, unleashing a burst of tomato, sweet, tart, full flavored like the warm, plump, blood red ones I would sneak from the prized crop my father grew in our backyard that graced the table with thick slices of ruddy goodness sprinkled with salt and pepper and spread upon a white oval plate all summer long.