ANTRIM'S ORANGE

The single navel orange Antrim's Granny brings from London is such a rare treat in wartime England that the gift causes almost as much anxiety as pleasure. Antrim shows off the orange to friends who can't remember ever having seen one, nearly loses it to a thoughtless teacher who assumes it is meant as a present for her, and in a moment of celebration drops it on the pavement (which solves the problem of whether the fruit should be eaten or saved). By the time Antrim lovingly divides the orange only to lose the single section he has kept for himself, one feels that the idea is being mercilessly squeezed dry; however, for a time, an ordinary orange is indeed transformed into a singularly wonderful object, even if it ends as a mildly pleasant pip.