Steering deeper into the town, Parker sighed wistfully at the thought of having her own cherry farm.Kit could run around in the orchard while she tended to the trees, then they would make pies and jams together.It sounded idyllic, like a dream come true.It was likely to stay a dream, however, especially since they weren’t exactly handing out free cherry farms on street corners these days.
Suddenly, a dirt road appeared on the side of the asphalt.For whatever reason, Parker decided to take it.It could have been that she’d just wanted to do something spontaneous by choice for once, but it was more likely that it was because she knew the bumps along the way would cause her little girl to giggle for the first time the entire trip.
Parker reveled in the sweet sound, her heavy heart feeling a few pounds lighter as Kit’s laughter at the uneven ground tickling her filled the car.When the giggles gave way to excited squealing, Parker nearly ran off the side of the road.“What is it?”she asked.Kit was pointing out the window, and when Parker followed her daughter’s finger, she could see why the little girl’s eyes were as big as saucers.“Oh, wow.”
Lifting her foot off the gas, Parker let the car roll to a stop at the edge of a grove of trees.“Look, Mom.It’s your cherry farm,” Kit gushed.
Before Parker could react to that exclamation, Kit was out the door and running toward the trees.“Kit!”she shouted, throwing the car in park.Stepping outside, Parker ignored the heat that hit her almost immediately and chased down her daughter.After a minute of running, she finally found Kit staring up at trees with branches covered in fruit.“These are some big cherries.”
Parker scoffed and nudged her daughter’s shoulder.“That’s because they’re actually apples.”Reaching up toward the branch, she ran her finger delicately across the skin.Fresh fruit was a rarity for the two of them, and normally the sight of it would have her grabbing greedily, but there was something about the orchard they were in that called for reverence, and she felt compelled to listen to it.
Kit bounced on her heels.“Can we have some with dinner?”
Hearing the excitement in her daughter’s voice lifted her mood, but reality brought it crashing back down.“I don’t think they’re ripe yet,” she said.Picking her daughter up, something that was getting increasingly difficult to do, Parker pointed at the apple hanging in front of them.“See how light it looks.I think it needs to be bigger and heavier to be ready to eat.”
“How do you even know that?”Kit gave her a withering look, long brown strands from her uneven pixie cut falling into her equally brown eyes.If there was one saving grace about Trent, it’s that his genes were mercifully recessive.The only thing Kit got from him was his straight hair, which was a blessing given how often there were lice breakouts in elementary schools.
Parker shrugged and set her daughter down on the ground.“It’s more of a guess really, but I would feel bad taking something that wasn’t ready to eat.”She gazed longingly at the tree, remembering how much better fruit tasted when it was right off the branch.“It would be wasteful and...”
“We’re not wasteful.Yeah, I know.”Kit kicked at a twig on the ground and looked up at her mother, the expression on her face downtrodden.“Do we have to get back in the car now?”
Parker’s instinct was to say yes.They needed to get back in the car and find a place to set up camp for the night.Looking around at the abundant orchard, however, another plan formed in her mind.“We could.Or we could camp here if you want.”
Kit’s eyes were so full of hope that it nearly brought tears to Parker’s eyes for the second time in an hour.“Really?”
Parker had barely started to nod before Kit was taking off back toward the car to grab their gear.Shaking her head, Parker followed her daughter, smiling at the delight her little girl was exuding for the first time since they’d left Idaho.As they set up their tent and dug into their meal of canned tuna and peanut butter for Parker and a package of shelf stable chicken and dumplings for Kit, Parker looked around the grove of trees, wishing that their stay would last longer than one night, but knowing that by this time tomorrow they would be onto the next town.Pushing aside that sadness for when Kit was asleep, Parker focused all of her attention on her little girl, wishing that she had so much more to offer her.
Chapter Five
Travis
The sun was already up past the horizon when Travis started to make his morning rounds through the orchard.Checking the trees was second nature to him at this point, so it didn’t take too long and even though there was quite a bit of land to cover and it could have easily been a multi-person job, he still liked to do it himself.Other than his dad, Travis wasn’t sure he trusted anyone to know exactly what to look for when checking for problems that would need fixing as soon as possible.
Even his brothers might miss the leaves curling in the certain way that indicated aphids had feasted on the growing apples, spots on the fruit that meant a maggot infestation had occurred, or the bark discoloration that happened with crown-rot.They’d spent most of their lives on the farm, but their journeys splintered off into other directions.Travis was the only one who stayed behind, determined to take gentle and efficient care of their birthright like it was a newborn baby.
Brushing the longer strands of his hair away from his already sweat-dampened face, Travis plunged further back into the trees, smiling when everything looked almost exactly as it had the day before.Consistency of care was key, and while others may find his daily checks tedious, he found them soothing.Most days when Travis woke up, his skin felt too tight and itchy until he’d gotten his checks done, only then did he feel grounded enough to go about the rest of his day.That same sense of rightness had started to wash over him, but as he came to the group of trees furthest from the main house, the unsettled feeling he was so familiar with descended upon him once again.
