Our lemon tree is still incubating the lemons—16 all together. A while back, a newbie appeared that was the wrong shape and sort of warty all over. As “Warty” grew bigger, I asked Russ (of Russ and Sarah) if I should be concerned. He assured me it was no big deal, just a genetic glitch in the plant. He advised me to detach Warty from the tree to prevent his continuing to suck nutrients from his sibling lemons. I came home intending to do just that, but in the end, it felt wrong. Like discovering your kid can’t tie his own shoes and sending him back to the Stork Barn.

There were two limes, but one of them just came off in my hand. I guess it’s time to eat that one now.