Under the Same Sky Read Online Free

boss’s son.
    I excused myself from the table to get a pad of paper and a pencil off the counter. I needed to figure out how long this was going to take.
    â€œHow many hours does the crew work each day?” I asked, sitting back down.
    â€œTen,” Dad replied. “Seven a.m. to six p.m.”
    I thought for a minute. “Hold on. That’s eleven.”
    â€œYou have an hour for lunch,” Dad said. “Unless the weather’s been bad and we’re really hustling to catch up.”
    â€œAnd we don’t get paid for lunch?”
    Dad just looked at me.
    Oh. Ten times $5.15 was $51.50 per day. “Do we work Saturdays?” I asked.
    Dad nodded. “Sundays, too, from time to time. When the strawberries are really coming in, for example.”
    Mom spoke up then. “Joe’s coming to church with us on Sundays,” she said firmly.
    There was no arguing with that. But working Saturdays was fine with me. The way I figured it, the more hours per week I worked, the sooner I’d be able to quit.
    I continued my figuring out loud. “Fifty-one dollars and fifty cents a day times six days means I’ll make—wow!—three hundred nine dollars a week. Divide that into seven hundred seventy-nine…That’s a little over two point five.” I looked up happily. “That means I’ll earn the bike in, like, two and a half weeks! No sweat!”
    Meg cheered.
    Dad said, “Hold your horses now. There are a few things you haven’t thought of.”
    â€œWhat?” I asked warily.
    â€œWhere’s that catalog you had last night?”
    I reached into my back pocket and handed it to him.
    He looked it over and said, “You’ve got to add seven-percent state sales tax. Go ahead and figure that.”
    After a minute I said, “Fifty-four dollars and fifty-three cents. Man.” I shrugged. “Okay, so I’ll work another day.”
    â€œPlus shipping,” Dad said. “Ten percent.”
    â€œNo way!”
    He pointed to the order form. “Says so right here. But go ahead and call that 800 number if you want.”
    â€œOkay, that makes another seventy-eight bucks,” I said.
    â€œYou’re going to need money for gas to put in that thing,” Dad said.
    â€œOkay, another two days. So it’ll take three weeks,” I replied grudgingly.
    â€œYou’ve got to wear a helmet,” Mom said.
    LuAnn, who had been looking through the X-treme Sportz catalog, chimed in. “They run anywhere from thirty-nine dollars to a hundred sixty-nine.”
    â€œI want you to get a good quality one, Joe,” said Mom.
    â€œOkay,” I said quickly, before she could start imagining terrible accidents and change her mind about the whole thing. “I’m adding another sixty bucks for a helmet.”
    â€œNow, the workers get free housing,” Dad went on. “Of course, you do, too. But they do their own laundry—”
    â€œLuAnn and I do that, too!” Meg interrupted, looking pleased with herself.
    â€œSince when?” Dad asked, although he was smiling when he said it.
    â€œSince tomorrow,” Meg answered, smiling back.
    â€œGood for you,” said Dad. “As I was saying, the workers pay for their own food and telephone—”
    This time it was Mom who interrupted. “Jim! You’re not suggesting we make Joe pay for his food!”
    To no one in particular Dad said, “It’s mighty hard to finish a sentence around here tonight.” When no one answered, he said, “No, Vivian, I’m not suggesting that Joe pay for his food. What I am trying to do is point out that, although he’ll be working along with the crew, he will not have many of their obligations and responsibilities, and I hope he appreciates that.”
    I continued adding everything up, and came to a grand total of $1,074.53. Okay, so it would actually take me closer to a month. That was