Red Delicious

An Autumn Outing

Alice had never picked apples before. Joseph was happy to invite her to join his parents and brother for her first apple picking outing.

Red Delicious apples were her favorite, but she had only tasted the supermarket kind that is covered in a thin preserving wax and could see months in warehouses and tractor trailers before reaching the store shelves.

This would be Alice’s first opportunity to pluck the apples from the trees herself.

Damien and his cousins were planning an outing too. The brood of children were coming. He was looking to get out of his mechanics shop. Business had been good, so good he spent most of his week under cars and motorcycles. He came home soaked in grease. It was particularly hard to remove from his dark brown mustache which oftentimes just looked plain black from all the dripping oil.

Many times he came home exhausted to his brood of kids. They all wanted daddy time but he was often irritable. He wanted to have a nice outing and set a better example for his children. His mustache was still black. Friday had been a particularly hard day at the shop.

Alice, Joseph, parents, and brother made their way into the apple orchard. They walked up and down the rows. Alice felt like a child in an apple candy store but there were not Red Delicious apples to be found.

Joseph asked one of the migrant workers in the field.

“We have some over there but they are roped off because they are not quite ready. Don’t worry about it though, you can pick a few.”

Alice was beaming with visions of Red Delicious apples dancing in her head.

They walked up past the rows of other varietals: Cortland, Jonagold, McIntosh. They passed a large family group on their way and there they were, the Red Delicious. Roped off with a do not pick sign.

Alice reached across the rope and plucked the biggest reddest apple she could find.

“I saw that!” yelled out a heavyset man with a beard in the family group they had passed.

Alice thought he was joking. Alice grabbed another apple and so did Joseph, his dad and brother.

They plucked and tasted these forbidden apples on the other side of the rope and returned with their bags to make their way out.

Damien saw the rule breakers approach. He was incredulous. There was a sign “do not pick” right in front of their faces but that was exactly what they did.

“Hey, we saw you. You are ruining it for everyone else,” he scolded. “Don’t you know better?”

The family of apple thieves said nothing.

“I know you can hear me,” he said, egging them on.

He glanced at his children. They glanced at their father with pride.

Joseph’s father walked a few steps away then turned.

“They told us we could pick them,” he answered.

Damien stared at him blankly.

“Why don’t you focus on scolding your own children and mind your own business,” Joseph’s father continued.

“I am minding my own business,” responded Damien.

His children looked on confused.

Alice quietly put the plump Red Delicious apple into the bag.

Alice, Joseph, and his family walked away.

Damien and his family went on picking apples on the right side of the ropes.

It started to rain.

A story by Pemba Umoja