The Year Money Grew on Trees - Aaron Hawkins [52]
One day Sam and Michael had a contest to see how many August apples they could eat at one time. In our orchard, half of the trees produced green apples and half a green-red combination. They chose the all-green ones. Sam won by eating twelve. Even before he was finished, he was complaining that his stomach hurt. He and Michael spent the next two days moaning and running back and forth to the bathroom.
After the green apple experience, Lisa became very upset about what she called "wasting apples." "All the apple throwing and eating till you're sick is like throwing money away," she lectured. "Think about how much each apple is worth. Jackson, how much is each apple worth?"
I looked back at her like she had asked me to build a TV. I had no idea how much an apple was worth. All I knew was we needed enough of them to add up to the $8,000 that the contract said I owed Mrs. Nelson.
"And I've been thinking, who are we going to sell these apples to, anyway?" she continued.
I had been wondering the same thing and couldn't put the topic off much longer.
"Maybe to the supermarkets or something," I suggested, watching how the others would react to the idea.
"I think supermarkets get their food from places like California," said Amy.
"We could sell them to an apple juice company," offered Sam.
"Or sauce," said Michael.
"Yeah, maybe," I said, trying to sound very thoughtful.
"Why don't you ask Brother Brown where he sells his?" asked Lisa.
"Why would he want to tell us that?" Amy asked quickly. "If we did the same thing, that would be competition and he'd lose money."
I figured she must be right. It was hard for me to think of Brother Brown as competition, but maybe it would be wrong to ask him about selling apples.
"I think we should start with the supermarket, then. Some of us could go with my mom and check things out," I said. By some of us, I really meant Amy and me, but when I asked my mom about it, Lisa and Jennifer insisted on coming too. We went on my mom's regular shopping day, and Amy got to sit in the front seat of the car.
There were a few different supermarkets in Farmington, but my mom always went to Safeway. While she started to load up her grocery cart, the girls and I went to find the produce department.
"I've never noticed before how many different kinds of apples there are," said Lisa as she examined the stacks of fruit in different colors. "What kind do you think ours are?"
"Half are green, so maybe Granny Smith or Golden Delicious. The red ones, I don't know, maybe McIntoshes," said Amy as she ran her fingers over them.
"Look for someone we can talk to," I whispered to Amy.
"How about that guy," she said loudly, and pointed to someone stacking up potatoes about fifty feet away.
We walked closer to him and noticed that he was young, maybe just out of high school. He wore a neat apron and sort of hummed or whistled to himself as he stacked.
"We want to talk to you about your apples," Amy said boldly from behind him. He swung around, and Amy, Lisa, Jennifer, and I were standing in a line staring at him.
"Uh ... what?" he asked, looking confused.
"Can you tell us where you get your apples?" Amy asked loudly.
"I don't know, maybe Washington. They grow lots of apples there."
"Do they just arrive in a big truck or something? Do you have a big pile of them in the back?" Amy continued.
The potato guy laughed. "No, they come in boxes like this," he said, kicking a box of pears with his foot. "That's a bushel."
"So how much would you pay for a bushel of apples?" Lisa broke in.
"Don't ask me, I just put 'em out."
"How many apples in a box?"
"Mmmm. Maybe a hundred."
"Do you ever sell any apples grown around here?" I asked.
"I wouldn't be able to tell. If you guys really want to know, I could get my manager. He does more of the ordering and that kind of stuff."
"Okay," said Amy quickly.
He walked toward the back of the store and in a few minutes