Peaches

“Susie, Susie, wake up. We have to go!” It was a dark wintery and cold morning outside. The trees were blowing and you could hear the wind as it blew in the air sounding like a tea kettle boiling and whistling. Sylvia, is Susie’s older sister by five years. She was five feet and three inches tall with black short hair and bangs that were cut too short. She was leaning over Susie’s bed, moving her shoulder back and forth trying to wake her sister. Susie was only ten years old at this time and Sylvia was fifteen. Their family had been ripped apart from sadness. They lived in Porterville California, where their parents were trying to survive the times of the late 1930’s and 1940's by working in the fields,making and selling their own beer. They were a family of seven, Susie was the youngest. She had beautiful light brown hair with hazel eyes that seemed to sparkle. She was a bright light to her mother and her mother adored Susie tremendously. Their mother had loved all of her children, but Susie stood out from all of the rest.

It was a normal day for the family. The father was always seeking work, but he was an alcoholic and this was visible to others. Work did not come easy for their father and this is what put stress on him and the family. Their mother Bruna, was responsible to feed and take care of her five children, and one way of doing this was to work in the fields picking whatever it was the job had called for. The children and the mother would work in the fields often to supplement what income they had at the time. The house they lived in was a two-bedroom home with a kitchen. Everything was white, the walls, bedrooms, kitchen and even the outside of the house was white. They had a white outhouse about twenty feet away from the home stocked with newspaper that was cut in 4x4 squares pinned to the wall daily and was shared by the neighbors. The kitchen sink was functional, but when one turned on the water it would run right to the ground inside of the home. The plumbing had not been fully completed as of yet. The water would run into a big bowl that would catch the dripping water. If it overflowed it would run on the ground and then it became a muddy mess.

On this day, Bruna who was four feet-five inches tall was preparing to take her family to the fields in Tulare to work. Bruna, was forty-three with beautiful long brown hair that went passed her waist. Her eyes were of a beautiful sky blue that stood out like two blue popsicles on a hot summer day. One never seen Bruna with her hair down for she always put it up in a bun as soon as she woke. She rose early to prepare for the families work day in the fields. She was a short woman but she had the strength and determination of a bear. She woke at three in the morning and began to make breakfast burritos. She began kneading the dough and rolling out the tortillas one by one on a floured board. Susie and the kids would wake up to the clanking sound of the tortilla roller. When they heard this sound, they knew it was time to get their day started. She always had a pot of beans cooking on the stove, cheese already grated, potatoes frying with bacon fat, salt, pepper, garlic, jalapeno peppers and of course scrambled eggs. They all could smell the breakfast and immediately became hungry. By this time, she had already prepared their lunch and had made their bread the day before. One, two, three, four…She began to wrap a little of everything to make burritos. Then she wrapped them up separately in foil. They were going to eat their breakfast on the way to work. If the children were hungry they would get ready in a rush. One at a time they would take a sponge bath in order to arrive clean to work. This was the best way to do it because in order to take a bath. Their mother would have to boil water in the biggest pot they had, and then pour it into the bath for them to clean. It didn’t make sense to boil water and sit in the tub, then go into the fields to work in the hot sun. But, cleanliness was extremely important to Bruna and she was not going to be shamed for having her children arrive dirty. The boys would load everything into the truck, including the wood burning kitchen stove, while the girls were still getting ready. There were lots to do in order to prepare for this weekend job in Tulare.

There they were, all packed in the faded brown painted truck. The young men sat in the bed of the truck out in the open while the girls sat in the front. The truck was crammed inside and out. Their mother had thought of everything. She took a tent, table, stove, food, clothing, large bowls to soak their feet in at the end of the day, and plenty of blankets. They had a job to do and were determined to complete it. If they didn’t complete their job they wouldn’t know how they were going to eat and pay bills at the end of the month.

There were quite a few people and their families there. They all were there for the same reason, to survive and to put food on the table. The men and children would wake up early every morning to work in the fields while usually the mother would make her space into their little living quarters. Bruna and her sons set up the tent, put the table out, and the oven. She organized where everything should be and placed chairs that she brought from the inside of her home and placed them around a firepit that the boys had made. As they were setting their campsite up. The other ladies in the surrounding area noticed she brought her stove. They laughed and joked, and gave her mean looks of jealously. They were upset because they hadn’t thought of this themselves and it made them feel stupid. All of the children including Susie, worked very hard. They all had a role to play in order for the family to succeed.

It was the next day, early in the morning. It was very hot and already uncomfortable before sunrise. It never really cooled off the evening before, so when they had woken up they were grumpy and sticky from perspiring. They hadn’t even begun to work. Bruna, tried her best to get everyone on their feet and fed including herself. They were there to pick peaches. There were acres and acres of peaches to pick. All of them together grabbed a bucket, some climbed ladders to get to the very top of the trees while others picked the peaches up from the ground. Susie, would stick beside her mother and picked the peaches that fell from the tree as her mother picked them. For hours they had been working in the field. The sun was beating on their bodies and their skin was bruising from the weight of carrying the heavy buckets back and forth to the employer’s trucks. “Hurry up!” yelled the owner. He wasn’t picking any fruit. All he was doing was standing there and intimidating his workers. “Hurry up, we don’t have all day!” He yelled, as his face was boiling red with sweat pouring down from his face and his shirt was drenched from perspiration. Of course, everyone knew how he operated. They were all very careful as to not respond back. There lives were in his hands and he knew this. They were afraid to take water or restroom breaks because it would take time from picking the peaches. They got paid by how many buckets they turned in. They all would consistently be going up and down ladders to empty the full buckets of peaches and run back to pick more. It was very hard work and that was just the beginning for Bruna.

Once there were plenty of peaches picked. Part of Bruna's job was to core the peaches. She had a special knife that looked like a hook but was only two inches long. It fit in her hands perfectly and she was very quick at coring. She worked so hard it came to the point where she was unable to straighten her fingers. Her fingers took the shape of the knife that looked like a hook. Not once did she scratch or cut herself. The owner was very impressed with her ability to work so fast. There was no stopping her from taking care of her family. Every now and then Bruna would observe a few of the other ladies from other families glancing at her in envy. They all worked consistently until night.

At the end of the night, they all went back to their campsite and began to wash up before they were to prepare dinner. Bruna, washed her hands, grabbed a white cotton towel she brought from home to wipe her hands. Then she proceeded to light the wood burning stove. It took time for the stove to heat up, but that was okay with Bruna, because she was going to feed her family a feast for all of the hard work they had done. Immediately, she began cooking a prepping the food. She rubbed potatoes in lard fat and then wrapped them in foil. She tossed them on a large pan to begin to cook. Then she had Sylvia and Susie make a green salad with the fresh vegetables she brought from her garden at home. They also made fresh salsa. She brought some carne asada and began to cook making sure to add butter, garlic, salt and pepper. Bruna made homemade tortillas right there and then for her family. She was a machine that wouldn’t stop. The other ladies’ families began to notice how hard and fast Bruna had been working. They began to question their own mother’s why they didn’t make them a meal like that. The others basically had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for their dinner. Bruna, was proud of herself and her accomplishments for the day.

After they were done with their dinner. The boys and the girls did all of the cleanup. Ray was the oldest of the children. He was long and skinny and his clothing was baggy on him. He rushes to boil water on the stove and filled it up in a huge round bowl and placed it by his mother’s feet so she could soak her feet. Then the other families followed suit. The women all gathered while soaking their feet and were gossiping amongst one another. Bruna, did not gossip. In fact, she despised those that gossiped and created rumors about others so she did not partake into those conversations. Later, much later in the evening. One of the ladies mentioned that someone in their circle was going to die the next morning. Bruna, got up from her chair and excused herself for the evening. She thought these ladies were crazy to say such things. The women in the circle had made tea to drink that evening and Bruna had a cup before saying goodnight. Her children were already sleeping. Bruna’s sons slept in the bed of the truck while the girls slept in the tent.

The next morning, most people were awake and some were already working in the fields. Bruna’s sons had begun early without eating any breakfast. She felt horrible her poor hard-working boys had nothing to eat so she cranked up her stove and made some more burritos for them. She put her hair up, wrapped it in a scarf, and hurried to get dressed. She reached in a box, pulled out a wicker basket she had brought with her, and placed the burritos she made for her sons in it. She then had Susie walk the burritos out to her brothers and told Susie to make sure she comes back to take a little nap with her. Bruna, had been having horrible migraines on this morning. She just couldn’t shake it off. When Susie came back from delivering the burritos to her brothers the two of them took a nap in the tent. Bruna began to rub her head, mentioned her stomach hurt and said, “We’ll nap for half an hour and then get out there to work. I just need these migraines to stop.” They both laid down and took a nap.

Time passed and Susie woke up. She looked at her mother who was fast asleep. She reached out to her mother and touched her hand ever so gently as a feather touching skin. She immediately sat up, grabbed her head with both hands and began to scream. She was in so much pain. Susie was looking at her mother not knowing what to do. All of a sudden, her mother reached out to give her a kiss and she fell back and died. It happened within seconds. Susie didn’t understand what happened. She didn’t know what to do. Her mother had migraines occasionally from time to time. She ran out to the fields to look for her brothers. She seen Ray up in a tree. "Ray! Ray, something is wrong with mama." She was panicked standing there breathing heavily while covering her eyes from the sun with her hand. Ray, jumped down from the tree and ran as fast as he could breathing very heavily. He went inside of the tent and that is when he saw she was not breathing and confirmed their mother had died. He couldn't believe what his eyes had seen as his heart was heavy. He was very heartbroken and had to take some time for himself before he told the others. It was a shock to the family. She was the glue that held the family together. It was a very gray day for them all. Their mother worked so hard. She was so smart and determined to support her family since her husband could not. It had been too much for her.

Shortly after Bruna’s death, world war two begun. The two older brothers Ray and Melo had been drafted. It was now only Sylvia, Susie, and Alvie, the youngest brother. He had begun to feel bad that his brothers were at war and he was at home so he joined the Airforce. He left Sylvia alone with her baby sister to live alone in their home. This was also during the depression. It had gotten so difficult for the girls to live and they were going to be evicted from their home. They had to go stay with one of their aunts that lived a few blocks away.

Their aunt was the sister of the mother’s. The girl’s mother was so loving, sweet and kind, and their aunt was the opposite. She was greedy and ugly. She had a horrible personality and was not pretty at all. One day, Susie opened her aunt’s refrigerator to get some milk. Her aunt grabbed the glass of milk away from her and yelled, “This milk is for my children!” She grabbed the glass out of Susie’s little hands and looked at her with fumes bursting from her ears and red horns on top of her head. After this occurrence, Sylvia screamed from the top of her lungs "we're leaving!" They didn't feel comfortable at their aunt’s house any longer. They ended up going back to their home, but knew they couldn’t stay there long. The rent hadn’t paid and there was no food to eat. Sylvia had a horrible gut feeling and was afraid that their aunt would call Child Protective Services on them. As soon as she woke up that early morning she went into the room to wake Susie up.

Sylvia, had never driven a car before. She had never gotten behind a wheel, but on this early stormy morning she and her sister drove away and left Porterville California and ended up in San Jose California. They were homeless and had been sleeping in the truck until one day. Sylvia's boyfriend drove from Porterville to San Jose. They ended up getting married and were able to rent a one-bedroom apartment. Life for them during this time was challenging, but Susie and Sylvia had each other as their mother would have wanted.