“Yeah, it’s kind of something—”
“Hey, Justin? Did we get another nozzle for the thingy?” a tall, thin guy called out, cutting Justin off.
“Oh, hey Lou, yeah, there should be one in the storage room. You washing the crates?”
“Yeah, I’ll change the nozzle and wash them, and then Sam will dry them before he starts packing,” Lou said as he walked closer.
“Good, I’ll show Izzy around a bit and then leave him to work with Sam.”
“Hey, man, nice to meet you. If you have questions, just ask anyone, we’re pretty friendly here,” Lou said as he shook hands with Izzy.
“I’ll keep that in mind,” he promised.
“Justin, I’ll have to leave early because of the kids, but I’ll stay longer on Tuesday,” Lou said casually, like it was no big deal to just inform your boss about something like that.
“Yeah, you figure it out. Tell Patty if you’ll be late so she knows to ask someone else’s help setting up the stall,” Justin said, gesturing vaguely. “Tell the kids I said hi and take some produce with you.”
“Will do, thanks, boss!” Lou saluted them and walked off.
“He has his kids every other Saturday afternoon until Monday evening,” Justin said as if that was an explanation.
“He’s worked here long?”
“About…I’d say two years, maybe? Something along those lines.”
Maybe the guy was a valuable worker, then? In a world where one of Izzy’s neighbors, a student who had had a part-time job as a server, had been fired for going to the bathroom during a shift, well, this place was heaven. Or an illusion, Izzy wasn’t sure yet.
* * * *
Izzy found that he liked Sam. The guy was around his age, really the strong and silent type, quick to smile, but not overly chatty. Sam had a small radio in the end of the greenhouse where they were packing the vegetables and they listened to a random station that seemed to play, well, everything possible.
“Do you live on the property?” Izzy asked when they were loading some of the plastic crates in the back of the van so they had room to fill more.
“Yeah, I’ve worked here for about a year and lived in the trailers for maybe ten months. I think the guy I’m living with, Ignacio, he’s almost saved enough to move to New Mexico where his girlfriend lives. So there might be an opening soon if you’re looking for a place,” Sam said, huffing as he lifted another heavy crate on the pile.
“Might have to, the hour each way drive is a killer,” Izzy admitted. “So why the plastic bins? Isn’t it extra work?”
Sam jumped out of the van and they started back into the greenhouse.
“Justin did some research and these are actually much friendlier to the environment. Like of course we have to wash them, but they lucked out with the wells on the property and when Justin converted the new greenhouses to hydroponic ones, they redid a lot of the irrigation system and managed to cut back water usage a lot.”
Izzy hummed. “I’d think the veggies would go bad faster in plastic tubs?”
“They can, but the places we deliver these have their own ways of storing them. We collect empty tubs from the previous week and wash them here if they haven’t cleaned them for us and so on. It’s still more environmentally friendly than using say, cardboard. At least it is for us, you know, with how we operate.” Sam shrugged and pointed him to another batch of veggies.
* * * *
The work would’ve been monotonous if he hadn’t had the interruptions. People came in to introduce themselves and everyone had this ease about them. Like they knew what they were working with and whom for, and they’d just run with it. It was menial work, but nothing like the menial work from prison. The difference was, Izzy guessed, that everyone actually wanted to be here.
When lunchtime rolled around, he went with Sam to the break room. Couple of others were there, and when they realized Izzy didn’t have anything to eat, they shared their lunches and added some tomatoes and bell peppers into all of their plates, just to balance it out.
“These are really good,” Izzy said after eating a whole tomato in two bites.
“Yeah, this is first grade stuff,” Carlos agreed as he bit into a sandwich.
The lady from the outside hadn’t appeared yet, but then it seemed like people from the town were coming in to buy produce so maybe she didn’t have time.
“Hey, did you get any of Wyatt’s cookies yet?” Sam looked at Izzy from the coffee maker.
