DR. WALLACE: Summer has kicked off in our part of the country, so we had a big family barbecue over Memorial Day! During the afternoon when we were all enjoying some watermelon, I was stunned to see my grandpa ask my mom for the saltshaker! When she brought him the salt, he literally salted the red part of his watermelon gently, but he covered the whole thing with just a little bit of salt!

I'm 13, and I've never seen such a thing in my entire life. When I asked my grandfather why he did that, he simply said that it made it better for him without going into any details. It was a busy barbecue, and there were about 30 people milling around, so I wasn't able to ask him more directly why he does this. I also was worried maybe it might sound like I was criticizing him in some way, so I felt it was better to write a quick letter to you than to ask anyone in my family. Why do you think he did this? — I Was Surprised He Did It, via email

I WAS SURPRISED HE DID IT: Well, he certainly is not the first person to add a little bit of salt to fresh watermelon! I've heard stories of previous generations for whom this was a common thing done routinely many decades ago. These days, most people wish to cut down on their salt intake, so it's unlikely you're going to see many other people doing it the way your grandfather did, but there always could be a few.

The quick answer as to why he likely did that is that it makes the watermelon actually taste a bit sweeter! Salt has a way of suppressing or masking the bitterness that can sometimes be associated with certain bites of watermelon. It also pulls water and natural sugars of the watermelon to the surface, so when a person goes to take a bite of lightly salted watermelon, they will benefit from a lot of the liquid being brought to the surface of the fruit, and the taste will be slightly sweeter.

You might want to give this a try with just a very small amount of salt someday on your own to see what this is all about. As for me, I do love watermelon but fully enjoy it in its natural state with nothing added at all.

I NO LONGER LOOK FORWARD TO OUR DATES

DR. WALLACE: I'm a high school sophomore and a guy who's always interested in girls. I asked a few girls out during the second half of our school year, and finally I found one that I thought had the most in common with me, so we kind of became boyfriend and girlfriend.

But now, as we head into summer after three months of dating each other, I'm starting to have second thoughts. The best way I can explain it to you is that I don't think we match up as well as I first believed we did. My experience is that she's emotionally demanding! She routinely wants to ask me what I'm thinking at random points in time, and if I don't have a specific answer for her, she gets frustrated and says to me, "If your hair was on fire, you would have something to say about it!"

I don't even know what that means, or why she says that to me, but she uses that phrase a lot, and it's starting to become aggravating. I like to just be low-key, but she wants to analyze our relationship every hour or two on every single date we go on together, and it's becoming exhausting. Should I keep dating her throughout the summer to see if things change, or is it better for me to move along now that I've realized we don't quite fit as well as I had once hoped we would? She's a good person and a really nice girl, but I'm not looking forward to our dates anymore, as they seem to be too much mental work each time. — She's Nice but overwhelming, via email

SHE'S NICE BUT OVERWHELMING: You certainly explained your perspective in great detail, and at your young age dating is an educational process, so consider yourself a little further educated at this point. Once you know that there is not a good connection between you and another person you're seeing romantically, my perspective is that you owe it to that person to be honest and to give them the opportunity to invest their time more productively elsewhere. Do not get into the specific details with her as to why you feel the two of you don't match up too well after all.

Be diplomatic and a gentleman, and also don't say anything to your friends in any derogatory way about her or her personality. Simply say that the two of you just didn't quite mesh together as each of you had hoped, but that she's a really nice girl and you wish her well.

Dr. Robert Wallace welcomes questions from readers. Although he is unable to reply to all of them individually, he will answer as many as possible in this column. Email him at [email protected]. To find out more about Dr. Robert Wallace and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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