A fight nearly broke out right there in the fruit aisle.

The setting was a grocery store in Peoria, Illinois.

The owner of the store, John Scouteris, prided himself on stocking fresh, healthy fruit.

But that day in 1943, he found a moldy grapefruit setting out.

He quietly ponded and slipped away to dispose of it.

But not before a customer caught him.

Mary Hunt

And to Scouteris' horror, Hunt called out.

Wait, is that moldy?

Scouteris could have died.

He hid the grapefruit in his apron and hissed, no.

But Mary would not listen.

She marched over to see it.

By now, other customers were looking.

Scouteris started sweating, pleading with Hunt to zip it.

But she insisted on seeing the grapefruit.

She claimed it was a matter of national security.

National security.

Scouteris thought she'd gone soft in the head.

But then he remembered that Mary did work in a government biology lab.

Mary then doubled down.

She told Scouteris that moldy grapefruit could win the war for the allies.

...