Lake News by Barbara Delinsky

Author:Barbara Delinsky [Delinsky, Barbara]
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Psychological fiction, Romance: Modern, Contemporary, General, Romance, Family Life, New Hampshire, Women - New Hampshire, Romance - General, Romance - Contemporary, Fiction, Domestic fiction, Fiction - Romance
ISBN: 9781416579571
Publisher: Pocket
Published: 2008-05-13T05:00:00+00:00

LAKE NE WS 201

The verdict remained in doubt when Maida resumed walking. It was only when she held the door open for Lily that Lily had an answer.

The machines were already warming up-the whirlpool bath, the conveyer belt, the grind, the press-chugging away in an old familiar rhythm. Lily thought of her father again. Hard not to, he was such an indelible part of the scene. Maida wore the rubber apron now, but her presence was almost jarring. Still, she seemed fully in control.

Lily traded her jacket for a hooded oilcloth slicker, put on oversized boots and long rubber gloves, and climbed up opposite Bub, onto the platform beside the press. She didn't tell him that she had never done this before, because it didn't feel that way. She had watched the process hundreds of times as a child, and though the old burlap cloths had been replaced by nylon ones, the latticework racks and the folding technique were exactly the same.

That didn't mean she didn't feel apprehension. But there was anticipation, too. She had waited a long time to do this. In her mind, it was as much a game as a job. Within minutes, the bottommost rack was in place, a cloth draped over it with the corners hanging down, and the first apples came through the grind into the large funnel above them. Bub shifted a lever just long enough for the right amount of mash to fall to the cloth, which it did with a splat that made Lily laugh, but she went right to work. She folded the left corner of the cloth up over the mash, waited while Bub folded over his left corner; then she folded her right corner over, waited while Bub folded his right corner over. While he smoothed and straightened the cloth, she picked up the next rack, an identical piece of latticework three feet square. After she had placed it on top of the folded parcel, Bub spread a second cloth there, then pulled the lever, and the next portion of mash splattered down. They alternately folded over the four corners of cloth, straightened the packet, added another rack and another cloth, and let more mash fall. The pile of racks and cloths grew. When there were eleven in all, capped by a spare rack, they pushed the whole stack sideways on runners until it was centered under the large iron press. Bub added fat blocks of wood between the top rack and the press to tighten the fit, Maida shifted the lever to start the stacks rising, and what had been a background chug

Barbara Delinsky 202

suddenly took on a bite. The gears turned with a rhythmic hum and bang. In no time juice was seeping from the cloth, spilling down the sides of the racks to the Page 98

Lake News - Barbara Delinsky

reservoir below.

Lily straightened then, looked around in self-satisfied surprise, and let out a breath. She'd done it! She felt exhilarated!

Maida was turned the other way, back to culling bad apples from the bath, but Oralee was watching.

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