Elbowed aside by luscious figs and mounds of pears waiting to ripen, this may be summer's last square watermelon. Adorned with a ribbon, it sits forlornly in the refrigerator at the back of a swish specialty fruit shop. And with the autumnal equinox fast approaching, this melon seems destined to stay there. Who is going to pay Y15,600 (about $160 at today's exchange rate) for an out-of-season novelty? Especially one without any taste. Probably not me. Yet the nearly perfect, cubic form appeals to my architect's eye and the oxymoronic incongruity keeps me guessing. Who ever thought of a watermelon with corners? Watermelons are supposed to be round, not rectangular. Groomed only for good looks, the thick-skinned fruit spent its youth cooped up in square mold. Maybe now it will be reborn as a jack-o-lantern.
