Peaches

shoulder. “I need you to pick some early bloomers for me to put in the vases.” With little movements Poopie could usually tell Birdie all sorts of things, but Birdie wasn’t quite sure what this one was supposed to mean. Was it, “I’m sorry you’re so unattractive”? or, “I agree that your dad is a grumpy aloof shell of his former self”?
    Birdie gave Poopie one of her famous grimace smiles and trailed after Leeda onto the porch, then down to the grass and along the driveway. The fields were empty since most of the workers had quit for dinner. The dogs tapped out after them. Birdie eyed her cousin sideways from time to time. It was true. Leeda was pretty enough to knock down doors. And it kind of made it hard not to want to be friends with her. But she was also kind of cold and uptight. Birdie couldn’t imagine living her life all buttoned up the way Leeda’s was. But for the moment she looked at Leeda with envy. Birdie felt the weight of the orchard’s problems like a pile of stones on her chest sometimes, and now was one of those times. Leeda didn’t have to worry about anything like that.
    Birdie fiddled with the braid in her hair, taking comfort in the cool cotton of her filmy white shirt and the hemp capris her mom had bought her at Squash Blossom in Atlanta. The orchard spread out beyond the porch, looking as bright green and healthy as it ever had. But with its trees so small and so exposed, it was hard to ignore that it was also delicate. And that was what scared Birdie the most.
    “Whadda you want to do?” Leeda asked, peering at the scenery beyond the porch with a crinkle at the bridge of her nose.
    “We could go to Smoaky Lake,” Birdie suggested.
    “Um.” Leeda’s nose crinkle deepened. “How about sitting in the AC and watching a movie?”
    The rare sound of a car pulling up the drive made the dogs perk up their huge butterfly ears. A few moments later a rusted-out white El Camino came chugging around the bend, blaring twangy, peppy Latin music and leaving a stream of gray exhaust in its wake. Several people came to the front of the dorms to seewhat all the noise was about. The engine cut out, and then Enrico emerged from the driver’s side, running his hands along the top of the door and then shutting it.
    Several workers converged on the car. A couple of the women climbed in. Enrico looked slightly embarrassed. He tucked his hands into the pockets of his gray shorts and started talking to a couple of his friends. He stood a full head taller than all the guys around him.
    In the crowd one of the women noticed Birdie up on the porch and walked over, grabbing her hand.
    “Come on, Pajarita.” Small bird.
    “Oh nooooo.” Birdie pulled back, planting her feet, but Raeka overcame her, and Birdie went trailing along behind her, followed by Leeda.
    Raeka pulled her right up to the car, and when she pulled away, Raeka let her go at the same instant, and she went stumbling back into one of Enrico’s friends.
    “Sorry,” she said, looking at him, then meeting eyes with Enrico. “Um.” She looked over her shoulder. “Nice car.”
    “Oh.” Enrico laughed under his breath. He looked from her to Leeda, and Birdie waited for him to take Leeda in the way guys did, like she was something the heavens had just spat out like a miracle. But his eyes drifted back to Birdie’s immediately. “Thanks, Birdie. It is…not that nice. But…uh.” He tapped his head, looking embarrassed. “Cheap. My English.” He shrugged.
    Birdie’s lips and fingers and toes tingled. She was pleased and horrified that Enrico even remembered her name, though being the boss’s daughter, she was hard to miss.
    “How much did you pay for it?” Murphy McGowen emergedfrom the crowd, sidling up beside Birdie and sizing up the car with her sharp green eyes.
    “Seven hundred fifty.” Enrico smiled.
    “Way too much,” Murphy said.
    Enrico’s smile dropped slightly; now he was unsure. “Really?”
    Murphy ducked into the driver’s side, looked at the dash, and ducked out again. “It’s got over 200,000 miles on it. I wouldn’t have paid over three. And by the sound of it it’s not going to last you very long.”
    Enrico stared at her earnestly and thoughtfully. He clearly hadn’t followed all that Murphy had said, but he seemed to have gotten the gist. Instead of acting defensive, though, he nodded good-naturedly, taking the information in. Then he looked at Birdie.
    “You think I have bought a