The Home - 38. Chapter 38

Peter and John continued to work on the farm, but the boys weren’t finished with them. Two weeks later, at dinner, when Peter and John had joined us, “You know Peter, John, if you didn’t want to go to the University, you could learn a trade. There are trade schools that can teach skills, like auto mechanics or electricians. I’m sure there are other skills as well.”

“I’m not sure, Tom. You know we can’t read, and we’d need help.”

“I think a lot of it is hands-on training. If you are having problems reading or understanding something, we can help you. You’ll still be working here while you attend a trade school.”

“We’ll consider it, right John?”

“Yes, if you and Tom help us as you did with the reading.”

“Take up auto mechanic, I’ll help you.” I looked at Charlie. I think he was beginning to like these boys.

Later that evening, when it was just Charlie and me, “Charlie, what you said at dinner about the boys. I think there was more behind that suggestion.”

“Tony, I was like those boys. I didn’t have the problem they have, but school and I didn’t mix. I’d rather work on my father’s tractor and truck. I got good at it, and soon I was fixing the neighbors equipment. My dad told me to forget school and to open a shop to repair farm equipment. I did and had a successful business. The boys could do that as well.”

I thought about what Charlie said. He was right. You didn’t need to read how to adjust spark plugs if someone showed you how to do it.

Peter and John thought about careers. John thought he might like to work on cars. With Charlie, he looked at two schools. Charlie told him which one to choose. Peter took a different route. He found a school that taught accounting. Tom said he was good with numbers. Now at lunch or dinner when the boys attended, the conversation turned to schools.

I took a walk on the farm Sunday afternoon. I thought the horses would have forgotten me. They hadn’t. I saw the goats they came over to me. I guess the boys would have something sweet for them. I went back into the barn and picked up a couple of carrots. Feeding them the carrots, you would have thought I was their friend for life. When they finished the carrots, they followed me as I walked around their grazing ground. As I neared the far corner, I saw a building to my right. I didn’t recall a building there, and I certainly didn’t tell the boys to build one there.

Walking into the building, I knew who was behind this building. I was in Amo’s seed building. Each table had a 4 x 8 wooden flat on it with a tag indicating when the flat was seeded and with what vegetable seed. It seemed well organized. As I was leaving, I saw Amo coming toward his greenhouse. I waited for him.

“What do you think. Tony?”

“I was surprised. This greenhouse is quite large. I had pictured one about a quarter of this size."

“The original was small, but as I started to experiment, I needed more space.”

“Why don’t you give me a tour?”

“Ok, the flats in this row were the original flats I started with in the smaller greenhouse. Tom and Brad wanted to know if I could start plants that could be replanted in your garden. But as I played around, I saw an opportunity to cross-breed plants. So I asked Tom and Brad to help me. This was the first expanded section, and here I’ve selected seeds from plants in the first section. This plant here is being bred to grow in the shade. This, which looks like a tree, is a cross-breed between a strawberry plant and an apple tree. I want to see if I can grow an apple that tastes like a strawberry,”

“That would be interesting. What about this plant here?”

“That is an apple tree that is crossed with a banana plant. The apple will have a yellow color and the taste of a banana. These other sections are genetically altered plants.”

“When are we going to taste these cross-flavored apples?”

“Probably in 5 to 6 years if the trees don’t die.”:

“I am impressed. Now I can’t wait to see the results of this cross-breeding.”

Later that evening, I told Amalia about the greenhouses. ”Amo has some strange plants growing in his greenhouses. He is cross-breeding various fruits with apple trees. If he is successful, we will be eating apples that taste like strawberries or bananas.”

I spent my weekends with the children and Amalia. The extended family joined us for meals, and, as usual, they fussed over the children.

Peter and John weren’t around as much on week-days but always on weekends. Charlie had John servicing the Olds and Chevy. I think John was learning more from Charlie than he did at the trade school. Peter chose to study accounting. He was doing well, which surprised a lot of people. The key here was oral instructions and not written instructions. Little Vic started first grade and told everyone he wasn’t little anymore. Now he was called Vic or Victorio. Those were the names we used when he was acting up. The girls were learning how to get Daddy to do things with them. I don’t know how many cups of tea I drank as we sat at their table with Fluffy, their stuffed dog, and Miss Betsy and Miss Anna, their dolls.

We hardly saw Amo. If he wasn’t at the dinner table for breakfast or lunch, he was either at school or in his greenhouse.

I was happy to have my family and friends around me.