How I keep half a tomato from going soft

On the board after salad — a red tomato half, the cut shining, juice already dripping onto the wood. Left like that, by evening the flesh spreads, the skin wrinkles, the taste goes watery. I blot the cut, lay the half face-down on a saucer or in a small box, and take it to the fridge — so by morning the tomato still slices, not runs.

How I keep half a tomato from going soft. A lemon face-down is another citrus note; last soft tomatoes into the oven are another lunch; a pepper half under a lid is another board; cucumber kept from a limp ribbon is another crunch. Here it is the red flesh after salad: cut shut from air, no spare wet, cold.

If the cut already swam — I lift a thin layer and slice the middle onto bread or into salad. I don’t try water to “revive” it. I’m not comparing stall grades here — only the half left after our table.

I don’t need a tomato that by evening runs across the board. I need a half that still smells of summer. In your kitchen after salad is the cut shut and taken to the cold — or does it stand open until it spreads?