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Tina
For Tina, there was no such thing as a sick day or paid time off, especially not for something as trivial as the flu. It didn’t matter how crappy she felt. As long as she was physically capable, there were things that had to be done.
That said, if she’d had a field supervisor she could trust and depend on, she would have stayed in bed. Her head was pounding, and her entire body felt as if it’d been run over by one of Rick’s combines.
With the help of tried-and-true homeopathic remedies and the maximum dosage of several over-the-counter meds, Tina somehow managed to get up, get dressed, and get out the door.
One thing she wouldn’t do was put other people at risk, so going to The Mill was out of the question. She called in, let them know she wouldn’t be in for the day, and headed right for the orchards. With proper distance and one of the N95 masks they used while spraying, there was little chance she’d get anyone else sick in the open air.
Also fueling her need to get out there was a concern about what she might find, given what had happened with Eddie the day before. She hadn’t fired him in front of the others; she’d called him over to one of the sheds and quietly let him go, not wanting to humiliate him. But chances were, they’d figured out what had happened when Eddie stomped out, gotten into his truck, and proceeded to tear along the access roads like a pissed off bat out of hell.
Hopefully, by eliminating Eddie, she’d also eliminated the primary source of the issues plaguing the orchards lately. If not, she was prepared to tell any other malcontents to follow him right out the gate, though summoning the energy to do so when she felt so lousy could be a challenge.
She found her crew right where they should be, which was a good sign. A quick head count revealed that everyone who was supposed to be there was.
“Hey, boss,” one of the younger guys said, approaching her truck.
“Hey, Billy.”
Tina liked the guy; he had a good head on his shoulders and didn’t mind hard work. Barely out of high school, he was picking up some classes at the county community college, trying to figure out what he wanted to do. Like Tina, he had a knack for science, so she encouraged him whenever she could.
“You okay? You don’t look so good.”
“I’ll be fine,” she assured him. “Just don’t stand too close.”
“If it’s the flu that’s going around, I already had it. Have you tried star anise tea with honey? It helps. My mom swears by it.”
Tina’s grandmother did, too. In fact, she was pretty sure Billy’s mom got the star anise from Lottie’s private stash.
“I haven’t yet, but I will as soon as I get back. Where are we at?”
“Dormant sprays are done on the pears, and we started spreading the fertilizer. I don’t know about that new stuff though,” he said, scratching the back of his neck. “I don’t think it’s meant for stone fruits.”
Tina had ordered the same stuff she always did—a special organic compound developed by the state university, specifically for fruit trees. It was something she was quite familiar with because she’d been part of the research team that created and tested it.
“What new stuff? Show me.”
Keeping a healthy distance, Tina followed Billy into the shed. A brief scan of the ingredients on the label confirmed Billy’s suspicion. The fertilizer was not the organic, ecofriendly stuff she ordered, but a toxic blend she didn’t want anywhere near her peaches.
“Where did it come from?”
Billy shrugged. “Some guy brought it up a few days ago. I didn’t recognize him, but I saw him talking to Eddie, so I figured you knew about it.”
“How much did you spray with this stuff?”
“Most of the cherries and some of the plums.”
“Shit.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t catch it sooner, boss. Eddie sent me down to Ehrlick’s to get some parts.”
Ehrlick’s was the nearest farm supply store and the only one within fifty miles that sold and serviced equipment.
“Parts for what?”
“The Kubota. It’s rolling coal again.”
“Did you check the glow plugs?”
“Yep. Blown.”
“How many?”
Billy’s face was grave. “All of them.”
If Tina hadn’t suspected sabotage before, she did now. There was no way they should be blowing through glow plugs as quickly as they were. The recent string of equipment failures, order mess-ups, and crew call-ins was too much to chalk up to coincidence and bad luck. The look on Billy’s face suggested he knew it, too.
“What’s going on, Billy?” she asked quietly.
He looked down at the ground and lowered his voice. “I don’t know, boss, but it isn’t good. You need to watch your back.”
Billy’s eyes flicked toward the entrance. Out of the corner of her eye, Tina saw another guy come in. Billy’s eyes met hers, and she knew in that moment that the newcomer was part of the sabotage team.
“Go with it,” she said softly before raising her voice loud enough to be heard. “Not good enough, Billy. Get the right fertilizer and do it today. No more spraying until you do.”
“On it, boss.”
“If we ain’t spraying, what are we supposed to do?” the guy asked from behind her. Unsurprisingly, he was a good friend of Eddie’s, and judging by the hardness in his eyes, he wasn’t happy with the recent staffing change.
“While you’re waiting for Billy to get back, get rodent guards up on the new trees.”
He scowled. “Rodent guards? Should we be doing pest control?”
“We’re not spraying anything until I see what’s in the barn. If we got the wrong fertilizer, we might have gotten the wrong pesticides, too.”
Tina turned and walked back to her truck. It was only once she drove away that she allowed herself to exhale and slump down against the seat. That show she’d just put on drained what little bit of energy she had.
She went back to her cottage, rationalizing that there wasn’t anything that needed her immediate attention. She’d head over to the barn later and check out the remaining shipment of pesticides once everyone else went home for the day, but until then, she was going to grab a blanket or three and take a much-needed nap.