The Year Money Grew on Trees - Aaron Hawkins [79]
"Don't worry," I shouted. "You want some of these apples?"
"Nah," he yelled back without turning around. "I'll catch you next year."
Chapter 18
Breaking Up and Starting Over
In a way, it felt unsatisfying that the paper I was holding was what made me the owner of the orchard. I looked through the pages, and there were words about land and plots but nothing about the trees. As I looked at them in their shadowy rows standing above me, I didn't feel like I owned them. Maybe it felt a little more like responsibility, which had come over me very gradually. I told myself it was what Mrs. Nelson wanted all along, if she was ever really serious about that "true heir" stuff.
That night I went over and told Amy and showed her the papers. She looked over them and then looked up at me very proudly. "Well, how do you feel? This is just what you've been hoping for and tricking us all into."
"I don't know. Now that it's real, it feels a little weird."
"Have you told your other employees yet?"
"No, so please don't say anything. They've been bugging me non-stop about the money, but I've got to give it a few days to let it sink in and to make sure no one over there changes their minds." I gestured toward Mrs. Nelson's house. "I also have to figure out what I'm going to say."
***
It took all the way until the next Monday for me to get up the nerve to talk to the younger kids. I asked everyone, including Amy, to come to my room after dinner so we could discuss something important. They all sat on my floor expectantly while I sat on my bed.
"I just want to start by saying you all were better workers than I ever hoped for. If you didn't know it, I had no idea what I was doing and just kind of made things up as we went along," I said.
"Oh, we knew it," said Amy.
"Yeah, yeah. Well, if you remember how this whole thing got started, I was talking to Mrs. Nelson one day and she wanted to share the money that could be made from the orchard. But I left out some of the details that I have to tell you now."
"Oh, really?" said Lisa. "Isn't it a little late to be telling us now?"
Everyone stared at me with a mixture of fear and disgust. I went ahead with the whole story, including the trip to the lawyer's office, the envelope with the $8,000 in it, and then the conversation I had with Tommy. I held up the deed as a kind of proof of what I was saying. I told them how at first I had hoped to make a lot more than the $8,000 and planned to give all the extra to them. No one said a word the whole time. They just sat there with their mouths open. Michael was the first out of the gate with a response.
"How could you be so stupid?" he spit out, shaking his head. "That money was ours too. What makes you think you could just take it all and give it away without even asking us?"
"Yeah, we should have voted or something," said Lisa. "Except you knew we wouldn't have voted to do that."
I looked over at Amy for some support, but she just looked away.
"I know. I know I was stupid. It's just that I signed the agreement, and I was afraid she was going to take the money, anyway. And I'm sorry I didn't tell you the whole thing up front. I was afraid you wouldn't help, I guess," I said, trying to sound as sorry as possible.
"Yeah right, you're sorry," said Michael.
"Listen, since we agreed on percentages, if you want, you can own a percentage of the orchard."
"That's just a stupid piece of paper," said Michael. "We want the money."
"Okay, how about this. Now that I'm the owner, we don't have to give any money to Mrs. Nelson on anything we earn in the future. What if next year you all get twice the percentages we agreed on this year?"
Lisa's eyes got big, and I realized I should have thought through the numbers before making the offer.
"You're trying to trick us again, aren't you?" said Michael angrily. He was looking back and forth between me and Lisa.
"Actually, that's a better deal than we had if we make the same amount of money next year," said Lisa in a calculating tone. "If we