One day I'd like to work my way through all the great tomato varieties - one thin slice at a time. There'd be only the occasional salty cracker on hand to cleanse the palate between the Big Rainbow, White Wonder, Red Plum, Evergreen, Carmello, Golden Jubilee, Ultra Pink, Ultra Boy, Red Gold Stripe, Early Cascade, Red Peach.

It would be hard to wait till I got to Arkansas' own distinctive variety, which comes into perfection only in the vicinity of Warren, Ark. - the Bradley County pink. Maybe it's something in the soil or the weather that does it. Or just the sheer grace of God. But the Bradley pink has never been duplicated elsewhere - the irregular, even ugly shape, the perfect heft, the way it fits in your hand as if custom-made for your palm, its sharp yet pleasant taste.  It's the fresh taste of summer in a blushing skin.

Whatever the explanation for their pastel color, tenderness yet firmness,and their piquant, distinctive flavor, Bradleys would be my favorite variety. They're like some fine local vintage maybe known abroad butdefinitley cherished at home. Bradleys may not travel well, but they taste best. Perhaps because, like all things truly Southern, they have a sense of place. And time.

One taste and you're carried back to the years before those reddish, mass-produced little softballs made for shipping, not eating, were sold in supermarkets under the assumed name of tomato.

In this all-too-modern age, innocent American consumers who've grown up on instant everything may never have tasted a real tomato. Instead they've been fed those simulacra that come in cellophane and taste about the same.

Now the first Bradleys have started to show up at last. It's too early to pronounce judgment on this year's crop. One shouldn't rush into thesematters, skip extensive tasting, and risk an early, in cautious opinion. Time is the essence of both a summer tomato and its enjoyment. There's no sense rushing a delight. So I can wait for that first, perfect tomato of the season. I know it's out there. I can almost hear it calling. I'm sure it's a Bradley County pink.