The Winemaker by Noah Gordon

Author:Noah Gordon
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Barcelona eBooks
Published: 2012-06-25T22:00:00+00:00

32

The Intruder

Late in February the first pale yellow-green buds appeared, and as winter turned to spring, Josep spent long days working in the vineyard, finishing the pruning and pulling the banked soil away from the base of the vines. By April the small tender leaves were open, and soon after that the sun turned warmer and more ardent, and flowers made the vineyard heady with their scent.

His father had always said that grapes would be ready for picking one hundred days after the flowers appeared. The blossoms attracted the insects that pollinated them and made grapes possible, but the green vines attracted destructive animals as well.

Francesc was with him the morning Josep discovered half a dozen plants lying in ruins, uprooted and chewed. The damage was done in the rear of his property, near the base of the ridge. There were tracks in the soil.

“Be damned,” he whispered and had to stop himself from saying worse in front of the child.

“Why are the vines broken, Josep?”

“Wild pig,” he told the boy.

Quim Torras had lost vines, too—eight vines—though Maria del Mar had not.

That evening Josep sought out Jaumet Ferrer and asked him to hunt down the pig before it damaged more of the vineyards.

Jaumet came and squatted on his heels near the wasted vines.

“The tracks were made by a boar, I think just one rascal. All the sows and…ah…you know, the young ones?”

“Shoats,” Josep offered.

“Shoats.” Jaumet tasted the word. “Sows and shoats bunch together. The boars wander off alone. This one probably stays close to the river because of the dryness. He went for the roots of your vines. Pigs will eat anything. Dead meat. A live lamb or a calf.”

Josep asked Maria del Mar to keep Francesc home and in her sight for a while.

Jaumet came before dawn with his long hunting rifle and patrolled their vineyards all day under the hot sun. After dusk when it became too dark to see, he went home.

He returned before dawn the next morning, and the morning after that. But he told Josep that the following day he was going to hunt rabbits and birds. “The wild pig may never bother you again,” Jaumet said.

“Or,” he said carefully, “he may.”

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