July 07 2008

Text By Greg Fallis

Five thousand years ago watermelons grew wild in the Nile valley. When archeologists cracked opened the dusty tombs of the Pharoah Tutankhamun, among the treasures they found were watermelon seeds. The boy-king knew what he wanted in the afterlife.

The watermelon has always appealed to the child in us. It's the perfect child's food. Sweet, messy, brightly colored, and you get to spit the seeds. It's one of the few occasions in which children are actually encouraged to spit. It's no coincidence that two of Huckleberry Finn's favorite activities were spitting and stealing watermelons. "When I start in to steal a watermelon," Huck says, "I ain't in no ways particular how it's done." Huck Finn, the boy-king of the Mississippi River, knew what he wanted.

And here we have the boy-king Eli in a paradise of watermelon. The world passes before him unnoticed; he is one with the melon. And if he makes a mess, if he spits a seed or two, if he is single-mindedly slurping...well, it never hurt Huck Finn and Tutankhamun. And like them, Eli knows exactly what he wants.

Watermelon.