Homecoming

Western Australian Sunset courtesy of zarahmburgess

Mangoes.

The precious weeks they are in season, filling the hot air of storefronts and fruit stalls with sticky sweet aroma.

The melting creamy scent of southern hemisphere sunshine that is impossible to replicate anywhere else and even harder to resist.

I will return.

I will choose a mango in the local way.

In the morning I will walk to the bustling covered market by the port, where you should allow time for a cold beer outside on the verandah, a massage or a coconut ice to the sound of a didgeridoo or ukulele outside the vintage record stall.

I will exchange a knowing smile with another purveyor of fruits as we select the most ripe, ready for enjoyment, because we have worked hard and lived well and we deserve that pleasure.

Holding each oval treasure and rolling them in our palms, we will each feel the weight and firmness of the pink-orange skin, before breathing in the scent of each one like a lovely fruity baby.

Is this one ready to yield its juicy gold secrets?

Is it time?

In the end we can only rely on our senses and make our best guess, as the trucks rumble along to harbour and sun slips into the crystalline Indian Ocean melting blues, greens, creams, pink and orange.

I will wrap mine in a soft muslin cloth so it doesn’t bruise in the brown paper bags of groceries. When I get to the house, the stones of the backyard patio floor and walls will still be warm and the night air will soon be heavy with the scent of frangipani, star jasmine and next door’s pool.

If the stars are aligned, the old-fashioned ice cream we have made with my mother’s childhood recipe, condensed milk, duck eggs and a vanilla pod will have frozen. It will slip, translucent and silky off the spoon; an irresistible English foil to the Tropical cheeks.

I will return home.

Timing is everything with mangoes.

©️Anna Murzyn Valentines Day 2025 🧡

“It’s a new dawn

It’s a new day

It’s a new life for me…”

And I feel good.