“Kenneth?”I gently called out.
“Yes.”
With silent steps I entered the room and approached the bed. “Matt had another engagement and he asked me to come see you.”
Pale and pasty, Kenneth pressed a tired smile as he looked up at me. “Darling? Is that you? The little girl who came to stay with us so long ago?”
I nodded and smiled.
“Look at you. What a beautiful woman you’ve become.”
“I brought you some ice water and a damp cloth.” I reached out to set the cloth on his forehead. “How does that feel?”
“Wonderful. Very nice.”
“Are you strong enough to sit up and take a sip of water?”
He shifted up onto his elbow and reached out for the glass. “I’m a little feverish, not incapacitated,” he said with a teasing grin. He took a few sips and handed the glass back to me.
“What brings you back home? I thought you were in California with your father for a good while longer.”
He nodded and settled back into the bed. “Things are falling apart over there. If we don’t move the family business out of California, we’ll lose everything.” He huffed and closed his eyes. “Even if we do make the move, it might be too late. The very long and strong fingers of the California tax collectors might still come after us even after we leave the Golden State.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” I said. “Matt has told me how proud your father is of his vineyard.”
He opened his eyes a moment, then closed them as he grunted and shrugged. “We had it good for a long time. All good things must come to an end, they say. I guess our time has come.”
“Have you spoken to anyone there that can help you?”I said. “An accountant? A lawyer?”
He let out an indignant snort. “Yes and yes. But it’s useless. Over the last few years, we’ve seen new tax laws come into effect that eat away and eat away at our profits until there’s barely any profit to speak of.”
“That’s really too bad.” I patted his shoulder, silently urging him to get some rest.
“I know that I’m in a privileged position,” he went on, his eyes closed, and his lips tight. “Why should anyone care about my little vineyard? Why should anyone care about my diminishing profits? But we’ve invested a lot of money, a lot of our money into that property with the expectations of returns on that investment.”
“I understand.”
“And still...” He opened his eyes to ensure I was listening, then closed them again. “The governor there...the governor may as well come out and tell all the business owners that he doesn’t want us setting up shop in his state. He may as well because that’s sure as hell what it looks like.”
“I’m sure he must have a good reason for doing what he does.”
His eyes opened wide, and he glared at me, his lips curled into a cynical grin. “If ever you find one, you let me know.”
Knowing little to nothing about American politics, there wasn’t much I could say.
“It’s not just the taxes that are killing us,” he said as he tried to sit up. “Take the water issue, for example. You have farmers out there... I don’t know if you know this, but California is sometimes called the fruit basket of America. Do you know what that means?”
“They grow a lot of fruits there?”
“Right you are. And what do you think fruit farmers need the most during the growing season?”
I considered his question for a moment. “The sun?”
He let out a sardonic laugh and settled back into his pillow. “Well, at least that is still accessible to everyone for free...at least for the moment.” He laughed some more. “I think they may be working on a way to charge us for that as well.” He looked at me. “What else do they need?”
“Well...water.”
“There you go. They need water. How would you feel if you were trying to water your crops, but you can’t because there’s a water shortage and yet...!” He sat up again, his indignation taking over. “And yet, the once again elected...after an attempt to recall him...finds it more important to flush perfectly good water out into the Pacific Ocean.California is in a severe drought, and yet all the rainwater it gets, the governor flushes back into the ocean.And for what? For what you say?”
