Sugarcane

There was always enough for everyone because it took so much time to eat.

When I was young, sugarcane grew in the back gardens. Thick clusters of it, looking like a solid bamboo. The green skin flaked off in stiff strips as we bit the ends. We shucked the sugarcane with our teeth, one teenage girl at a time wielding a machete to hack it into lengths: a foot, two feet long. Even the monkey would get some. There was always enou…