I wasn’t the only one who worked instead of studying after school. After all, I wasn’t the only immigrant worker attending school.
“Armando!”
Armando Cortes, who had supposedly crossed over illegally from Mexico when he was young, was one of the few non-Asian friends I had at school. To be honest, I hadn’t remembered him either until he spoke to me first.
“What?”
A guy who had no interest in anything at school except girls was probably still thinking about how to hit on Christina, who was in the same class as us.
Of course, objectively speaking, I didn’t think he had a snowball’s chance in hell.
“Can you do me a favor?”
“A favor? What? I heard you became the son of a farm owner. Don’t tell me you’re trying to use me as a worker on your farm.”
“......”
“Nine dollars an hour. Even if it’s you, I’ve got to get at least that much.”
“It’s not our farm. It’s Silver Oak Farm.”
Armando tilted his head.
“Why there?”
“The thing is, the owner of that farm came to our farm yesterday and picked a fight for no reason. The way he was looking at our farm? There’s definitely some kind of plot...”
I didn’t bother speaking indirectly to him. If I did, he probably wouldn’t understand, and this friend, who’d been heavily influenced by Japanese manga, tended to act pretty cartoonishly anyway.
“What? How vile!”
As expected, he clenched his fist and reacted dramatically. I saw the huge figure of Caden Harper passing by the classroom, quickly lowered my head, and continued speaking.
“I’m asking you to go there and take a look at the farm’s situation and the atmosphere.”
“But are they even hiring workers?”
“Harvest season isn’t over yet, so you should be able to get in easily enough.”
“Good! I’ll expose those wicked bastards’ schemes myself.”
“...... Yeah. I’m counting on you.”
But Armando was a man who knew how to take something when he gave something.
“Wait. In return, you have to do me a favor too.”
“What is it?”
Armando slowly leaned his upper body toward me and lowered his voice so no one else could hear.
“Come with me to the party tomorrow.”
“Party? What party?”
“Tomorrow’s Christina’s birthday.”
His eyes looked shocked, as if he couldn’t believe I didn’t know that.
‘Why on earth would I need to know that?’
“What do you want to do if we go together?”
“I want you to help me there.”
“So you can hit on Christina?”
“Yeah.”
“...... Are you sure you can do it if I help?”
“Absolutely! This time, I’m definitely going to get her. Tomorrow is going to be a historic day in my life.”
“...... Well, fine.”
The guy dreaming an impossible dream was absurd and ridiculous, but it wasn’t anything particularly difficult, so I even exchanged that handshake with him that I’d forgotten about and made the promise.
In any case, once a professional company came to repair and clean the wine equipment, it would take at least three days and up to a week, so there wasn’t that much for me to do. During that time, my parents would be working hard harvesting grapes, and the workers would be doing pest control, so that was even more the case.
After class ended, I headed to the classroom for the Agriscience Club I’d joined for college admissions.
Rattle...
When I opened the door and went in, half the kids were familiar faces and half were ones I didn’t know.
“Brian! Welcome. Some of you may already know him, but starting today, Brian will be studying, doing hands-on activities, and volunteering with us in the Agriscience Club. Come on over.”
Ms. Miller called me to the front, and I went up despite feeling awkward.
“Introduce yourself.”
“Nice to meet you. I’m Brian. My family has come to run a grape farm, so I joined this club.”
Some looked surprised, while others openly frowned.
Since today was a theory lesson, I took a seat, and the guy sitting next to me sneered.
“If you start learning farming now, you’ll be able to help your parents before you’re thirty. Better work hard.”
Looking at the man’s face—big enough to be nearly 190 centimeters tall and with striking features—I tilted my head, thinking I’d seen him somewhere before. But he must have thought I was ignoring him, because his face twisted.
“Looks like my words don’t reach your ears.”
At the sight of him looking like he might swing his fist at any moment, I suddenly remembered his past. He was a guy who had once played football at school, then switched to agriculture after realizing he lacked talent.
“Ah, Jacob?”
“What? Are you saying you forgot my name?”
“Wait... But haven’t you only been learning farming for three years too? Then maybe you’ll be able to help your parents around thirty as well?”
“..... I wonder if you’ll still be able to run your mouth like that after I smash it in.”
Perhaps because his behavior had grown more obvious, Ms. Miller noticed.
“Over there, what’s going on? Jacob?”
“...... Nothing, ma’am.”
“Focus only on studying. As far as I know, you’re at a very important stage right now, aren’t you?”
“...... I’m sorry.”
Ms. Miller glared at Jacob, then asked,
“Good. Since you’re confident enough to pick fights with others during class, you must have prepared well as usual. I’ll give you a quiz. Today, we’re going to talk about rice cultivation, one of California’s representative agricultural products. Soil management is especially important. Can you explain the micronutrient deficiency that is the biggest problem in paddy soils in Northern California, and the most effective way to solve it?”
Jacob, suddenly tense, flinched and looked around with a bewildered expression.
“Uh... well, micronutrient deficiency... nitrogen deficiency?”
“Jacob? As far as I know, your farm grows rice. Am I mistaken?”
“No, ma’am.”
“Then you should be able to answer at least this much, even if I haven’t taught it.”
“.....”
“Can anyone answer?”
Ms. Miller’s gaze swept around the classroom with expectation, but perhaps because she hadn’t lectured on the topic yet, no one raised a hand. Just as Ms. Miller was about to explain it, I raised my hand.
Jacob and Ms. Miller were both startled.
“Brian, do you happen to know?”
I flashed Jacob a grin and answered.
“The micronutrient that commonly becomes a problem in Northern California paddy soils is zinc deficiency. Zinc deficiency causes the leaves to turn yellow, and the most effective solutions are adding zinc sulfate to the soil or applying zinc preparations through foliar spraying.”
For a moment, the classroom fell silent, and everyone’s gaze fixed on me. Ms. Miller nodded with a pleased smile.
“Correct, Brian. You have excellent foundational knowledge.”
Ms. Miller, who was looking at me with newly impressed eyes, had definitely etched this moment into her mind.
‘Nice! With this, I’ve added one more line to a recommendation letter for UC Davis!’
Unlike Korea, in America, you must not hide your abilities. I only realized much later that constantly stepping forward, appealing your abilities, and being recognized for them was what brought you closer to success, whether in college admissions or employment.
In America, humility is never a virtue.
I quietly said to Jacob, whose face had turned red from being hit so openly and who was huffing in anger,
“How long are you going to keep using your fists? When you’re farming, if the rice doesn’t grow well, are you going to punch it too? If you want to save rice, you should use your head, not your fists.”
When I tapped my head as I gave that advice, the giant-like Jacob stared blankly at me with a dumbfounded expression. He was probably thinking, “Has anyone ever provoked me like this before?”
If that guy had simply been a rockhead like Caden Harper, I would have kept my mouth shut, but since he came to this club with the will to learn farming, I thought he was different from that idiot and spoke harshly.
But there was someone watching that scene.
After the class, which lasted about an hour, ended and I was leaving, Jacob brushed past my shoulder. It wasn’t quite a shoulder-check, just a show that he was in a bad mood, so I laughed softly and started walking again when someone tapped my shoulder.
“Hm?”
When I turned my head, a white girl with beautifully tanned skin was standing there.
“Chloe?”
“You know me?”
“Of course. You’re famous. Your boyfriend too.”
She was Chloe Harris, known as the queen of the school, with a height in the mid-160s, a slim figure like a model, and a pretty face. Since she was so famous, I was able to recall who she was the moment I saw her face. Of course, that included her boyfriend, the football player...
“Am I?”
“But why? Do you have something to say to me?”
She looked at me with a strangely intrigued gaze, then asked,
“No, just... I’ve never seen anyone talk to Jacob like that before.”
“And here I thought it was something important...”
When I chuckled and was about to leave, she asked,
“If there’s anything I don’t know, could you teach me?”
“Hm? Teaching you isn’t a problem, but does your family run a farm?”
“My family has a cherry farm.”
“Ah... right. Ah!”
Just as I was about to turn away again, I remembered something, looked at her, and spoke in a low voice.
“In return, can you help me with one thing?”
“What kind of thing?”
“Are you planning to go to Christina’s birthday party?”
“Hmm... probably?”
“Good. I’ll ask you for one favor then. Help me out a little.”
“... What favor?”
“There is one. Something like that.”
Leaving her looking curious, I went straight out of school, got on my bicycle, and headed directly for the farm. But the atmosphere felt somehow ominous.
“Wooseok!”
My mother’s irritated voice.
“What is it, Mom?”
“No, honestly...”
Before Mom, who seemed deeply upset, could say anything, Dad cut in.
“Not a single one of the workers showed up today.”
“What? Why?”
“They all went to Silver Oak.”
“Really?”
Now I knew for certain. Ellowen intended to devour our farm by any means necessary...
“Isn’t he a truly awful person? We can’t just let this go. He deliberately took the people who came to work at our farm!”
To Mom, who was fuming, I spoke as if it were no big deal.
“It’s okay. And there’s nothing we can do about it. It’s harvest season, so if they say they’re hiring a lot of people even if they have to pay a little more, who can say anything?”
“I’m just upset.”
“We have plentyyy of time. We’ll deal with the powdery mildew first and harvest the grapes slowly. I told you, the grapes piled up over there in the warehouse are going to earn us money. Dad, the wine equipment cleaning company came, right?”
“Yeah. The equipment doesn’t have any major issues, and the cleaning will take about two days. I asked them to clean it thoroughly.”
“You did well. Once the cleaning is done, I’ll start vinegar production right away.”
“But will it go well?”
“I told you to just trust your son... In half a year, I’ll make sure our vinegar is being sold at South Coast Plaza.”
As I said that, I lovingly gazed at the grapes of poor market quality piled inside the boxes.
‘Aw, you adorable little things...’
What would it feel like on the day vinegar bearing the Redwood Farm label was sold at South Coast Plaza, home to California’s finest luxury brands?