Doing It (Indefinitely) 6:19:16

A boy nervously fumbles with a cantaloupe, rolling it a bit, touching the tip of a knife to the center, he allows it to roll back as the knife is lifted. His hands quiver, his fingers search for the perfect place to hold.

“Boy! Grab the mellon,” the boy looks over to his mentor and takes hold of the mellon, still unsure about cutting this piece of fruit; with his eyes nearly closed, he starts to insert the knife. Once the knife is nearly halfway in he adjust his hands. He grabs the handle tight and pushes down hoping to finish the cut in one stroke. The handle gets caught on the outer layer of the fruit, his natural reaction is  to stop and he wiggles it out.

“What are you doing? Do you need me to show you how to do this?” The boy makes a face expressing that he knows he can do this, he grabs the mellon firmly, pulls it in closer and slides the knife back into the precut slit, he looks up for a bit of direction. The Mentor starts to lead him.

“Yeah, that’s it.. there, nice and slow,.. then you’re going to slide it in.

slide it in..

slide it in……. Yeah…”

The boy determined is now excited, he confidently begins to curve the handle of the knife again, he’s told– “Slowly!” The mentor loudly reminds him to break past his natural inclination to rush into things. The boy starts to creep his fingers up the melon, it’s rotating,he jaggedly slides the knife in and out

“That’s how you do it.”