Plu-perfect

At the grocery store, you owe exactly what the cash register declares on its digital readout. At the farmers market, the vendor displays a price, weighs your produce, and then rounds down if he or she feels like it. Or you round up, if you choose.

Recently I bought a handful of beautiful little yellow nectarines, which came to two dollars and 80 cents. I was about to say "keep the change" when the vendor offered to throw in a gorgeous yellow pluot to knock off the last 20 cents.  Sure, I said.

I've never been a huge pluot fan - why cross a perfectly good plum with a perfectly good apricot? But this one specimen, a serendipitous purchase, was perfect.