In addition to customers picking their own
apples, there gift shop boasted of items like fresh apple butter, apple bread,
different types of apple pies, apple juice, cider, and even the shrunken granny
apple dolls to name a few. TNCAO apples were shipped to stores all over Ohio.
The gift shop also sold honey and a few honey
by-products. In the spring the thirty beehives were moved from the back of the
orchard to the middle. Bees pollinated the blooming flowers on the apple trees.
The pollen was carried from one flower to another by the bees. In turn seeds were
formed and grew.
In the midst of the seasonal work chaos, Eva
liked to steal a few peaceful moments to read under the old crab apple tree in
the center of the garden. Today she had started reading a novel by Christian
suspense author, Terri Blackstock. Eva was wearing her favorite pair of ratty jean
shorts along with her t-shirt proclaiming in loud green letters, “Who Me? I’ve
Got Nothing to Hide.”
Eva was not alone under the crab tree. Nine
year-old Snake Johnson was hiding somewhere in its branches. His father was a
seasonal picker at the orchard. Shielding
her eyes against the sun, Eva looked up to the top of the tree, and there he
was.
“Snake, you sneaky little varmint, get down
from there right now, or you’re going to hurt yourself. “In a series of jumps,
Snake stood before her.
“How did you know I’d be here reading at this
time?”
Snake looked at Eva with a grin, and replied,
“It was just a hunch, but I need to ask you a question.”
“Go ahead.”
Snake asked reluctantly, “Mrs. Nuden, is it
true crab apples can make you sick if you eat them?”
“Snake, I don’t believe there’s any truth to
that old myth. I’ve never known anyone to have any bad side effects from eating
crab apples. “
“I read an article in the newspaper by the
Ohio Apple Lovers Association that said the exact opposite of what you just told
me.” Snake stated confidentially.
“Snake, why are you so interested in crab
apples?” Eva said.
“Mrs. Nuden, I got this recipe for some kind
of cake that uses crab apples. I wanted to make it for my girlfriend, and
really impress her.”
Out of Snake’s pocket came a folded paper
that was a recipe photocopied from a magazine. He handed it to Eva. “Could you
please make this for me? With mom gone, neither Dad nor I are very good at
baking.”
Eva said, “Snake, this recipe doesn’t look
too hard. I could do that for you. I don’t think those Ohio Apple Lovers
Association people know what they’re talking about. I have a basket over there.
Would you please fill it with crab apples for me?”
Snake looked at Eva with a smile, “I knew you
were smarter than those Ohio Apple Lovers Association people that’s why I asked
you.”
Snake agreed to come with Eva to TNCAO
kitchen to help her make two cakes-one for his girlfriend and one for her and
Ad to try out. The recipe was simple, and might just become a great addition to
the gift shop food.
Once the cakes were cooled and iced, Eva gave
Snake his cake, and took one for herself. Eva looked Snake directly in the
eyes, and said, “Snake, promise me that you will not give this cake to your
girlfriend until Mr. Nuden and I have had a chance to taste it after supper
tonight. I will call you tomorrow morning.”
Snake agreed with a smile as he ran home.
There was something about that boy Eva liked. After Eva fed Ad and her three sons
supper that night, she decided to let the boys go to their rooms to finish
homework and have some computer time.
Ad and Eva had their dessert away from the
boys. It was a good thing the dessert was not offered to the boys. After each
spouse took a few bites of their respective desserts, they both made bathroom
runs to one of the two bathrooms in their home. Ad went to the half bathroom on
the main level to puke his guts out. Eva went to the bathroom on the second
level to puke, and then banish herself away to a hot relaxing bath with her
Garden of Eden bath salts.
The next morning, Ad and Eva woke up with no
illness. Eva immediately called Snake’s home, and told his father to have Snake
(or Snelling as he was formerly called) throw away the cake because it had made
them sick. Eva would make something else special for him to give his
girlfriend. Snake’s father thanked her, said he would give the message to
Snake, see her and Ad later that morning for work, and disconnected the phone.
After the Nuden’s sons were off to school, Eva
and Ad went to the town square to hire more pickers at around 9 am. Apple
picking could not start before that time because picking apples with dew on
them could cause bruising. The regular seasonal pickers on staff were busy at
work, but could not possibly finish all the apple picking that needed to be
done for the day. The Nudens also went
out at noon and at 6 pm (an hour before closing) to hire even more workers.
The general public was not always aware of
the hot and exhausting work of apple picking. All the bending and going up and
down ladders with shoulder bags full of fruit could be tough on the back.
The Nudens paid their seasonal pickers daily.
When it came time to pay, everyone got the same payment no matter how long they
had been there that day. There was a lot of grumbling among the newly hired seasonal
pickers as to how unfair this was.
A calm Eva stepped forward and stated, “When
we hired all of you at the town square you were promised a certain dollar
amount no matter how long you worked today. That amount is comparable to what
we pay our regular seasonal pickers. Am I right?”
The newly hired pickers all mumbled, “Yes.”
Ad stepped forward, and spoke. “We can use
your help this week. Be aware the same practice will be followed that was done
today. You are free to come back tomorrow if you wish. The choice is yours.”
Many of the newly hired seasonal pickers got
their pay, and did not return the next morning because they felt the Nuden’s
payment practices were unfair. Those who had worked less time should not be
paid the same wages as those who had been there the entire day. This is why the
Nudens were out again the next morning hiring more seasonal pickers at the town
square.[i]
BIBLICAL INSPIRATION:
Then the Lord God planted a garden in the
East, in a place named Eden. He put the man he made in that garden. (Genesis 2:8)20 The man gave names to all the tame animals, to all the birds in the air, and to all the wild animals. He saw many animals and birds, but he could not find a companion that was right for him. 21 So the Lord God caused the man to sleep very deeply. While he was asleep, God took one of the ribs from the man’s body. Then he closed the man’s skin where the rib had been. 22 The Lord God used the rib from the man to make a woman. Then he brought the woman to the man. 23 And the man said,
“Finally! One like
me, with bones from my bones and a body from my body. She was taken out of a
man, so I will call her ‘woman.’”
24 That is
why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife. In this way
two people become one. (Genesis 2:20-24)
The snake was the
most clever of all the wild animals that the Lord God had made. The snake spoke to the woman
and said, “Woman, did God really tell you that you must not eat from any tree
in the garden?”
2 The woman answered the snake, “No, we can eat fruit from the trees in the garden. 3 But there is one tree we must not eat from. God told us, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden. You must not even touch that tree, or you will die.’”
4 But the snake said to the woman, “You will not die. 5 God knows that if you eat the fruit from that tree you will learn about good and evil, and then you will be like God!”
6 The woman
could see that the tree was beautiful and the fruit looked so good to eat. She
also liked the idea that it would make her wise. So she took some of the fruit
from the tree and ate it. Her husband was there with her, so she gave him some
of the fruit, and he ate it. (Genesis 3:1-6)
20 “God’s kingdom is like a man who owned some
land. One morning, the man went out very early to hire some people to work in
his vineyard. 2 He
agreed to pay the workers one silver coin for working that day. Then he sent
them into the vineyard to work.3 “About nine o’clock the man went to the marketplace and saw some other people standing there. They were doing nothing. 4 So he said to them, ‘If you go and work in my field, I will pay you what your work is worth.’ 5 So they went to work in the vineyard.
“The man went out again about twelve o’clock and again at three o’clock. Both times he hired some others to work in his vineyard. 6 About five o’clock the man went to the marketplace again. He saw some other people standing there. He asked them, ‘Why did you stand here all day doing nothing?’
7 “They said, ‘No one gave us a job.’
“The man said to them, ‘Then you can go and work in my vineyard.’
8 “At the end of the day, the owner of the field said to the boss of all the workers, ‘Call the workers and pay them all. Start by paying the last people I hired. Then pay all of them, ending with the ones I hired first.’
9 “The workers who were hired at five o’clock came to get their pay. Each worker got one silver coin. 10 Then the workers who were hired first came to get their pay. They thought they would be paid more than the others. But each one of them also received one silver coin. 11 When they got their silver coin, they complained to the man who owned the land. 12 They said, ‘Those people were hired last and worked only one hour. But you paid them the same as us. And we worked hard all day in the hot sun.’
13 “But the man who owned the field said to one of them, ‘Friend, I am being fair with you. You agreed to work for one silver coin. Right? 14 So take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same pay I gave you. 15 I can do what I want with my own money. Why would you be jealous because I am generous?’
16 “So those who are last now will be first in the future. And those who are first now will be last in the future.” (Matthew 20:1-16)
BIBLICAL PARTICIPANTS: Adam, Eve, and the unnamed men in the
Parable of the Harvest Workers
[i] Adapted from the 2011 America Star book, All for One: the Towns of Ohio Complete Trilogy by Robert A. Kinker, part two (“They’re Just Like Us”), chapter sixteen. All scripture verses are from the Easy-to-Read Version (ERV) of the Bible.
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