Partners

Начало книги

Alice Simmons emerged from the kitchen door, wiping her hands on her apron. Her day had been busy. It had started at dawn, and now, at mid-morning, she felt the need of a break.

She stepped out into the Sun, which blazed hot already. The air felt damp, not quite humid enough to be called muggy, but close. It held a definite promise of afternoon showers.

Soon Mel, who had left home on his tractor before sunup, would be coming in from the cornfield to eat his lunch. Alice had been keeping watch on the grape arbor, her project, part of the garden which is every farm wife’s private fief, and she knew that some of the bunches were already making sugar and tasted sweet and juicy.

Upon that thought she retreated momentarily into her kitchen, found her shears and hustled off to pick some of the fruit to go with their lunch.

Her objective was the sunward side of the arbor, the final row, where the light was unobstructed and mother nature had been pampering the vines since the first thaw. She made for that like a bee after honeysuckle.

Читать дальше →