The Year Money Grew on Trees - Aaron Hawkins [17]
I led Amy toward Mrs. Nelson's house while Sam and Michael worked their way through the orchard. As I knocked on Mrs. Nelson's door, Amy whispered, "What are we doing here?"
Before I could answer, Mrs. Nelson opened the door. "Hi, Jackson! How are you?" she greeted me happily. "How are those trees?"
"Hi, Mrs. Nelson. This is my cousin Amy, and we're just coming over to talk about that."
Mrs. Nelson gave Amy a little nod.
"We're going to get started with some pruning. Do you remember your husband doing that?"
"Well, maybe," she said very thoughtfully.
"Did he have any special tools he used for it?"
"If he did, they would be in the shed behind the house."
"Do you think we could have a look and maybe use some of the things in there?"
"I don't see why not. They're just sitting in there."
The three of us walked behind Mrs. Nelson's house and opened the doors to a little building. The inside was dark and it took a few seconds for our eyes to adjust. Dust and spider webs were everywhere. There were shelves against the wall piled high with unfamiliar items, like canvas bags, metal pipes, and tangles of hoses.
"Is there anything in here that could be used for cutting branches?" I asked, almost speaking to myself.
"How about this?" Mrs. Nelson asked after pulling a tool off one of the shelves. It had two long wooden handles with curved metal blades at the point. I recognized them from the apple book.
"I think those are just what we're looking for," I said as I took them from Mrs. Nelson. I moved the wooden handles back and forth and watched the metal blades move like scissors.
"Here's another one just like it," Amy said from the corner. We searched for another ten minutes without finding more pruning tools, but we did pull two long ladders off the shelves. I thanked Mrs. Nelson, and then Amy and I started dragging the ladders and tools toward the orchard. Each ladder was heavier than I realized at first, and I was a little surprised that Amy was able to drag hers all by herself. She didn't say a word about Mrs. Nelson.
We found Sam and Michael and dropped our ladders at the very corner of the orchard. Sam had climbed to the top of a tree while Michael was throwing dirt clods at its trunk. The apple book was lying in some mud along with my mom's clippers.
I picked up the book and looked at everyone. "Okay, according to this, if we want a good crop of apples, we have to cut off some of the branches before the leaves and apples start growing on them."
"That sounds stupid. If we cut off the branches, won't there be less places for apples to grow?" Michael asked confrontationally.
"Yeah, but the book says the ones that do grow will be bigger. The trees will spend more energy growing apples and less time feeding all the branches or something."
I turned to the pages in the book on pruning that illustrated the kind of spacing between branches that was just right. Amy, Michael, and I began debating how many branches to take off the first tree and where to start cutting. We each tried the pruning scissors and found that with just a little force they could cut off branches as thick as our fingers. We were deep in discussion about how to reach the highest branches when we heard a sawing noise. Sam had run home and gotten the saw his dad usually only used for cutting down Christmas trees. Before we could stop him, a huge branch just a few feet off the ground was cut through and fell with a thunk.
"I'm not sure that's really the idea, Sam. We probably want to leave most of the big branches," I said, gaping at the branch on the ground.
"Yeah, okay. But at least we know this saw works pretty well," he replied with enthusiasm.
It was decided that Sam would climb each tree and cut the thicker branches near the trunk using his saw. Amy and I would use the ladders and pruning scissors and attack the outer branches. Michael was given the clippers and told to work on the smaller branches near the ground or those he could reach