Coconuts

When I lived in the Caribbean, I was often awakened by street noises shortly after sunrise. I would hurry down the hill, half asleep, to buy meat “pâtés” (spicy turnovers). A local woman made two or three dozen of these as well as coconut-filled ones each morning, which she sold briskly as soon as they came out of the oven. Pâté in hand, I would stroll over to the harbor, where down-island boats along the waterfront displayed mounds of fresh green coconuts for sale—the rest of my island breakfast.