Two oranges

As I worked on a student's draft in the middle of the night, the sight of two oranges prompted the recall of a series of events - a backwards version of If You Give a Mouse a Cookie:

• The intact nature of the oranges meant that I forgot to add the orange zest to last night's rice pilaf.
• I went to the grocery store yesterday just to get those oranges.
• I had to buy oranges because I had used all the oranges (which my mom gave me the day before) in the morning to make fruit salad.
• I resorted to oranges because I couldn't find the honeydew in the refrigerator.

As it turned out, the rice pilaf was just fine: no one missed the zest. And this morning, I found the honeydew.