Pickers came and went, bringing boxes, shifting things around in the barn—doing almost anything but actually picking. Meg was becoming accustomed to the sound of voices outside the house at odd hours, but there was no rushing the apples. Monday morning she woke with a start and realized she hadn’t seen Professor Christopher Ramsdell since her class had ended in May. She knew he was busy. This was, after all, peak growing season, and he had many commitments to field research. Add to that the new integrated pest management project that the pharmaceutical company DeBroCo had proudly announced earlier in the year, and the construction of a new building on the UMass campus to house it, and Christopher must have been run off his feet. She knew that Bree had consulted him periodically. Still, she felt she should check in with him, report on Bree’s admirable progress, and make sure she was on track. She needed to ask him what equipment she still needed, who had bought the crop before this, and what if any spraying was still necessary.
