Graveyard Plots by Bill Pronzini Read Free Book Online Page B

as?"
    "Well, citrus."
    "Where?"
    "Down in the Imperial Valley."
    "What else?"
    "Tomatoes. Grapes and apples and celery, too."
    "All right," Mr. Carbante said. "You're on."
    "I sure do thank you."
    This Mrs. Jensen was still standing there with her hands on her hips. She looked at me. "I'm sorry again about that bump."
    "Oh, it's nothing."
    "Good luck."
    "Thanks."
    "I'll see you later, Gino," she said to Mr. Carbante.
    "Okay, Mrs. Jensen."
    When she was gone, around to the side, Mr. Carbante took me into the warehouse. They had a crisscross of conveyer belts in there, and packing bins lining one wall, and there was a lot of Mex women that was sorting out the lettuce heads and putting the good ones off on one belt to where they was trimmed and graded and packed, and putting the ones that wasn't any good off on another belt.
    We went into a little office they had there, and Mr. Carbante give me a little book to keep track of how many crates I was to pick, and told me what they paid for each crate. Then he said what bunkhouse I was to sleep in and the bunk number and what time they give you supper and what time you had to be up and ready for work in the morning.
    He just finished telling me all that when this old bird come into the office. He had a nice head of white hair and pink cheeks, and he stopped where we was and give me a smile. He must've been close to seventy, sure enough, but his eyes was bright and he looked to get around pretty good.
    Mr. Carbante said, "This is Mr. Jensen. He's the owner."
    "How do you do, Mr. Jensen?"
    "Glad to know you, son. You going to work for us?"
    "Yes, sir."
    "Well, that's fine."
    "Yes, sir."
    "Did you want to see me, Mr. Jensen?" Mr. Carbante asked. "Have you seen Mrs. Jensen?"
    "Not since breakfast."
    "All right, Gino," Mr. Jensen said, and he went on out.
    I said, "Mrs. Jensen was right here with you, Mr. Carbante."
    "Never mind, boy."
    "Yes, sir," I said. "Is that Mrs. Jensen's husband?"
    Mr. Carbante's eyes got all narrow. "That's right. Why?"
    "Well, nothing," I said, but I was wondering how come old Mr. Jensen was to have such a young wife. People sure do funny things sometimes, specially when they get old.
    Mr. Carbante said, "You just mind your own business and pick your quota every day, and you'll get along fine here. You understand that, boy?"
    "Sure, Mr. Carbante."
    "Okay, then. You'll be down on the south side. There's a couple of Mex's out there who'll give you the hang of it."
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    D o you know how they pick lettuce?
    The way you do it is, you have this long knife, real sharp, and you walk in along the rows, which are about two feet apart, and you clip off the heads in close to the ground and put them in these field crates you drag along with you. When you get a crate filled, you leave it in there between the rows and then a truck comes along and picks up the crates and takes them up to the warehouse.
    Now, it don't sound like much, me telling it like that, but there's plenty of little tricks to it, all right.
    These two men that Mr. Carbante had told me about give me some tips on how to tell which heads was to be cut, and how to tell which ones had been chewed up by the aphids, and which ones had got the mildew or been burnt by the sun. I took to watching this one big fellow, whose name was Haysoos. He was pretty near pure black from the sun, and had tiny little eyes and thick, bushy eyebrows. But he sure knew what he was doing in that lettuce, clipping away like nobody you ever saw.
    After I watched him for a while, I got onto the knack of it and started right in myself. I had my shirt off out there, and it was plenty hot. I was burnt up pretty good from being down in the Imperial Valley, but down there you was working citrus and didn't have to pick right in under the sun like that.
    Just as I got my first field crate filled up, who should come down the road but Mrs. Jensen and Mr. Carbante. They was just strolling along, side by side, her with this big floppy straw hat