On melons and favours

My dad’s colleague is a fan of Formula 1, so when he found out my boyfriend R works for one of the teams, he got excited. He asked whether R would buy a T-shirt for him and take it to Extremadura on our next trip. He would, of course, gives us the money. No, R wouldn’t mind.

As the T-shirt wasn’t expensive, dad decided he would pay for it and give it to him as a gift.

A few days after the man received the T-shirt from dad, someone rang the bell. I opened the door and there was another dad’s colleague, carrying two enormous melons.

‘I’m in a hurry. I’ve been given these melons for R. Here you have’.

And he rushed off.

I was left standing in the hallway with the two fruity beauties in my arms wondering why would anyone give melons to my boyfriend, but then it hit me.

At lunchtime, we tried one of the melons and told R they were a gift to him.

He was puzzled.

‘For me? What do you mean? Who bought these melons? Why would anyone buy melons for me?’

I told him it was my dad’s colleague, the one we bought the T-shirt for. He has a vegetable garden and sent two melons to him as a thank you for the hassle.

He looked a bit confused but eventually understood this new concept for him.

In Extremadura, we don’t do ‘Thank you’ cards, we send some of our seasonal fruit or vegetables instead. Whether you have a vegetable garden or just a few fruit trees in the back garden, at some point you end up having too many oranges, lemons, aubergines or whatever it is you grow. So, you share it with relatives, friends or neighbours when they pop in for a coffee.