Watermelon stories

We are currently growing two kinds of watermelon in our garden and I must tell you I have never been so impatient. It is my own fault that they aren't further along. The first set of watermelon seeds rotted in the ground because I over watered and I didn't notice because there was a sprout of something growing in the spot where the seeds were planted. I didn't know that it was crabgrass and not a watermelon so it was several weeks before I searched on line and pulled it out. I replanted and got both of them to send out shoots. One of the sets of shoots got fried when there was a particularly hot day that dried them out. So I had to reseed that one a second time. So one of the watermelons is about a month old and doing fine and the other one is about a week out of the ground and is doing ok so far. They are both so small. I have trouble imagining how those little plants, the largest of which is only 5 inches tall, is going to produce a three or four pound watermelon, much less one of those 20 pounders you find in the supermarket. I am so disappointed every morning when I go outside and there hasn't been monstrous growth on the vines. At this rate I won't have watermelons until September and I think that might be too long for me. I might have to breakdown and buy one for the July 4th week or maybe even today.
I love watermelon on hot days like today. Watermelon has always been my favorite artificially flavor in candy. In Blowpops, Jolly ranchers or whatever it is always my first choice. Not that it reminds me of real watermelon, but it's always been a mental crutch so I can hold off until they are available and cheap in the summer time. Mostly I love the red varieties. I have had the yellow and the orange kinds but I like the sugary sweet drip of the big red ones.
About two years ago I bought two giant watermelons at the Pathmark near our house on sale for $3 each. I juiced half of one and got a gallon of deliciousness. I had it in the fridge at the height of the summer heat. When I came home from work that night something smelled wrong as I opened the door to the apartment. The rancid smell of something was coming from the kitchen. The fridge had failed sometime that morning and everything had gone bad in the sweltering heat. The watermelon juice had gone bad. It was the saddest food related thing that had ever happened to me. I have had ice cream cones fall on the sidewalk and pizza slices plop to the floor but the giant gallon of un-drunk watermelon juice, that had now separated and swollen the jug, was so emotionally destructive that I still feel a pang of sorrow now. I made another gallon later that summer but it wasn't as sweet or ripe as that lost batch.
One time when I was young we had a watermelon that had partially frozen in the fridge. It must have been set too cold because as my dad cut through the rind you could hear the ice crystals cracking. Those slices were so delicious like having a Froz-fruit pop only better. As I was eating my slice I noticed a white nugget stick in the frozen watermelon part near one of the bite marks. I thought it was an extra thick seed, but when I picked it out I realized that it was a tooth! I passed my tongue over my teeth looking for a gap and sure enough I found it two spaces to the left of my front teeth. It had already been loose and it was a baby tooth but it was still unexpected to lose it in such a way. I told my mom and went to look in the mirror at the bloody gum and the white crest of the tooth coming out underneath, but instead of being all freaked out and mad at the watermelon for pulling out my tooth I was grateful that it was such a pleasant and painless experience, as well as allowing me to keep the tooth for easy pillow payments later that night. I sat back down and happily chomped on two more icy pieces.