Bumper Crop

14-year-old Vance went door to door, room to room, waking his two brothers and three sisters up before 5 A.M. on a Saturday. Each one he shook awake he told to meet him in his room as soon as they were dressed, he was calling a Sibling Meeting. As the eldest of the Frick children, this was his right. None of the children complained, they all knew better, even the youngest, Lulubell who only just turned 5 years last month.

"Ok, guys, here's the dealio," Vance began as soon as everyone had entered his room and taken a seat. "I was going to the kitchen this morning and heard Gramps and Mamma talking with Gram. Seems there's a bumper crop of fruit out in the family orchard." As all the younger siblings began to get excited and start cheering, Vance held his hand up. "Before y'all get worked up and set your little beady eyes on the County Fair, y'all need to clean the taters out y'all's ears and listen me out, hear me?"

Looking sternly at his younger siblings, stopping on the 9-year-old twins, he did not continue until all had nodded yes and zipped their lips. "Gramps was saying that the trees were loaded with fruit this year and it needed harvesting real soon or they'd start rotting on the trees. Mamma has been working a lot of double shifts at General since Da left. Gram just shook her head and told Gramps that there was no way she could do it this year because that Mrs. Needlemeyer was running her to death in the Women's Auxiliary." (All the siblings could not help themselves upon hearing Mrs. Needlemeyer's name, they made raspberry sounds. Edwin and Elsabeth, the twins, even added some boos and hisses. Vance allowed this for a moment, before motioning them to silence again.)

"Now, we know that Mrs. Needlemeyer also makes preserves to enter into the fair, but she can't win if Gram enters her special recipe preserves. So, we know what that busybody is really doing. She's running Gram around in circles, taking up all her time." (More raspberries, hisses, and boos from the Frick siblings.) Vance continued as if they hadn't interrupted him again, "What Mrs. Needlemeyer is not considering is us. We will not allow this to happen."

All the children started clamoring at once. Some argued that they had schoolwork and chores, (Edwin was quick to add rather dejectedly, that some even had homework to complete. Meaning himself of course). Lulubell commented some were tiny and weren't much help. Suella, who was 11, just wondered how they could help. It was Leland, at 13, who always figured out a way to back up Vance, that said they could do it with the right planning and teamwork.

"Alrighty, then. We all meet in the orchard area right after breakfast," Vance clapped his hands, signaling the end of the meeting.

All the children are as fast as they could that morning. One by one, they all took off outside. Suella made sure Lulubell finished her plate and they rushed out to the orchard together. All the children met under the lone pear tree that Gramps planted when Gram agreed to marry him.

"Ok, Frick's," Vance began," Leland and I've been discussing things. He says since there are only five trees left in the orchard, we should be able to finish the harvest in a couple of days at least. Faster if we work harder. I think he's right."

"Since Vance and I are bigger, we'll be the ones climbing the trees and shaking the limbs," Leland added when Vance was done speaking. "The rest of you will gather up the fruit in the bushel baskets we brought from the barn. When Vance and I get all the fruit shaken from the trees, we'll start hauling the full bushels to the house. So let's get started."

With Mamma at work and Gram attending yet another Women's Auxiliary meeting, the children worked right through lunch without even noticing. Gramps came out to call them in once, but when he saw what they were doing, he figured he'd let them complete what they set about doing and just quietly went on his way, doing his farm chores. By supper time, all the fruit was shaken from the trees and the older boys were using an old wagon cart to transfer the full baskets to the back porch.

The children had water breaks during the day, but otherwise, they all just worked on through till they heard Gram ringing the dinner bell.

The children wanted to take advantage of the last bit of daylight left in the day, so they ate as quickly as they could, answering Gram's questions about what they'd been up to as simply and vaguely as possible. Gramps just ate and smiled, reminding Gram of a cat who lapped up cream. When the children were asked what their hurry was, they begged to be excused and ran from the house.

Standing at the back door, Gram once again wondered what the children were up to at this time of day. She could hear them out by the old orchard, singing at the tops of their lungs. Behind her, she could hear Gramps humming along with the children.

As the Frick children were bringing up some of the last of the fruit (they had, after all, worked harder than hard and gotten most of the harvest picked), Gram stepped out on the porch. They knew their surprise was out, so they all just smiled at her their biggest smiles.

"So, this is how my grandchildren spend their free time on a beautiful Saturday?" She asked them. When Lulubell ran up to her, Gram stroked her hair, while the little girl told all about their day's adventure.

When all seven of them went back inside, Gramps asked them what all the commotion was about. Gram just looked at him, smiled, and said, "Looks like there's going to be some preserves for the County Fair after all."