the center of the watermelon

When my sister and I were children, watermelon was a summer staple in our house. My mom would always ask us to help cut it up, which was a pain because you had to lay out newspapers and it made a lot of waste. We'd sit on the counter next to the watermelon, "helping" my mom as she sliced half of it up for dinner. Then we'd fight over the center.

The center of the watermelon is the juiciest and best part of the watermelon. When we were growing up, seedless watermelon wasn't as common, and the middle was the only part sans seeds. It was delicious. And worth fighting for.

Now that I'm grown up, I'm free to eat the center whenever I want. And I do. But I'm still worried my mom will catch the remnants of my indulgence and yell, "WHO ATE THE MIDDLE OF THE WATERMELON?!"