In The Giver, what happens to the apple when Jonas throws it to Asher?

In The Giver, Jonas and Asher are tossing an apple back and forth during recreation period. While they are playing catch with the apple, Jonas notices that the apple seems to have somehow changed, right in mid-air. He catches the apple, examines it closely, and finds absolutely nothing different about it.  But this apparent change happens four more times. What Jonas does not understand is that the apple has not changed at all, but that his ability to see the apple clearly has changed. He is developing the ability to see colors, with red being the first color he is able to see.  This is a fleeting ability at this point in the book, as evidenced by the change not being constant. And of course, Jonas has no vocabulary or conceptual understanding to talk about or even think about this change because the ability to see color has been taken away from the entire community, and he has never seen a color before.  (I imagine this as being like living in a world that resembles black and white photography.)  Until the Giver explains color to Jonas and begins to share more colors, Jonas is unable to understand what is happening to him.  Color is a symbol in the story of the beauty in life that has been taken away from the community, all in the interests of sameness and conformity.