Bitter Vintage by Riona Kelly

Author:Riona Kelly
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pynhavyn Press
Published: 2015-12-19T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

“I tried to make it easy for Phil to talk to me. We’d always been open with each other, but the strain of events concerning the workers was taking its toll on our friendship,” Lee told me. He said my brother had first come to him six months before, stopping by his house late one afternoon. At first casual, his conversation became more strained as they talked and Lee realized that something was bothering him.

“Eventually, Phil got around to it. He related his involvement with a Mexican girl and a Mexican activist group. The group supported the labor strike. Basically, Phil agreed with them, but that put him on a rather obvious collision course with your father. At the time, he was worried your dad would find out he’d been to their meetings. From the way he talked, I gathered a couple of the members were pretty hot that he wouldn’t support their viewpoints publicly, but then, they didn’t have to live with your old man.”

“Did they resent him enough to want to harm him?” I asked, letting the remark about Philip’s involvement with Consuelo pass for the moment.

“I don’t think so. They aren’t a violent group. They just couldn’t understand why Phil wouldn’t stand up against your dad.

“Anyway, he was trying to raise money without your father knowing, He’d given them a considerable amount already from his own savings and he wanted me to help also. Of course, I did what I could, but we were really very limited. Since we couldn’t openly approach people for help, we had to contact those we knew were sympathetic. All in all, we raised a pretty good sum, close to ten thousand dollars. Not nearly enough, but respectable. The majority of the contributions came from sympathizers in town. Since Phil had to keep it quiet around your father, I was more involved on the surface. That didn’t help the rift with your dad any.”

“Is that what you meant when you said you were upset with Philip for not standing up for his convictions?”

He nodded. “Yeah. He really opposed your dad on the labor issue, but he never would face him on it or publicly state his own views. I guess that’s not for me to judge though. I wasn’t in his shoes.”

Picking up a stick, he began drawing circles in the sand, one inside the other, then another, as if he was deep in thought. After a minute, he continued. “A couple of weeks later, Phil stopped by again. He was sure your dad knew he was going to the meetings with this group. They’d argued and the old man told him to stop opposing him or else. Phil was afraid he’d change his will, leave him out of it. Your dad called him irresponsible and swore he would ‘ruin the vineyard’ if he continued.

“After that, Phil quit going to the meetings. But his relationship with your dad was still strained and they continued to argue. One day, Phil came to me and asked if Dad and I were interested in buying Claremont Vineyards.

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