neredu season. she comes home from the colony park with a purple tongue and a pocket full of seeds

there's a big jamun tree in the corner of the park and the older kids shake the low branches. she brings back whatever falls, eats them on the steps, and lines the seeds up on the windowsill to dry. she says she's going to plant them. my mother says we did exactly this. i don't remember it at all. i remember the tree though, the one near our old house, and the stains on my school shirts that never came out. she's 8 and has eaten more fruit this week than in the whole of last month