RE: Florida in August.
I know exactly what Pinhi is talking about.
When I was a kid, I spent a month visiting my cousins in Lakeland, Fla.
I was probably 12 years old.
My cousin who was a year older had a job working with an Orange Picker. It was the opportunity of a lifetime. While on vacation, I had the opportunity to make $20 a day! That could buy a ton of baseball cards, comic books, and candy!
I jumped at the opportunity to join him.
He arranged it with the orange picker guy and he told us to meet him in front of his house at 5:00 AM.
The following morning I sprung out of bed when my cousin's alarm went off. We had a bowl of cereal and headed out the door. We walked a mile to where the man lived.
This was the first time I met him. He was in his 50's and his skin was weathered and wrinkled from years of working the citrus groves. Without much of an introduction, he spoke to me in a thick southern accent as he pointed for us to hop in the back of his pickup truck.
We arrived at the orange grove and walked out to a section of trees ready to be picked. I followed him as my cousin followed his friend. They used a long pole to plunk the fruit from the tree and it was our job to scoot under the tree and fill the sack. This wasn't too bad in the beginning, although I was amazed at the speed he could work while the Marlboro burned it's way down closer to his cracked lips.
Soon the sun began to rise higher into the sky. That is when I began to realize what humidity was really like.
It was 98 degrees and the humidity was as thick as San Francisco fog.
My clothes were getting heavier and heavier with each gallon I would sweat.
Each time I would dump the full sack of oranges into the pickup truck, I would pray that it was the last load. I figured we would only fill it to the top of the sidewalls.
...Little did I know it would have to be filled to the sidewalls plus a huge mound that worked it's way almost halfway up his rear window.
Each time I would dump the green oranges, he would be working on the next tree full...
Finally he must have seen that I couldn't take one more load of fruit, he told me to find my cousin and hop into the truck. Little did I know that meant "Onto the back of the truck"...
I was nervous at first as we hit the highway sitting on top of a pile of round objects with not much to hold onto.
My cousin saw the nervousness on my face and smiled.
He then told me that this is the fun part.
As the speed of the pickup approached perhaps 60 MPH my cousin yelled to me, "Watch this!"
He lifted his head high enough above the front cab where the wind was fierce. He turned his face to me and opened his mouth to form the letter "O". The sound similar to blowing into a bottle to make a whistle sound is what came out.
I laughed and tried it. The 100 mile per hour breeze felt good. As my cheeks flapped and eyes teared sideways, I turned my head and made a whistle. That was Excellent!
My cousin then showed me another interesting sound.
He tossed me an orange. He pointed at the large road sign.
We both fired fastballs right between the "R" and "S" in Interstate. "GONGGGGG, GONGGGG!!"
What a sound!!!
I figured I could throw a fastball of approx. 50 MPH. Add that to the 60 MPH the truck was moving, and I was Nolan Ryan with the wind to his back...
We fired oranges at any target we could find.
Splat! against the overpass! Splat! against the power pole!
The extra sacks of oranges toward the end of the day were well worth it!
The Florida humidity in August sucks except when your are travelling at 60 MPH in the back of a truck loaded with oranges...
-Unfortunately that was the only day I worked for the orange picker. As we returned to his house after unloading the truck at the weigh station, we saw fire trucks at the end of the block. As we got closer we saw they were finished putting out the smoldering remains of his small house.
I don't know what he ever did after that.
I didn't have the heart to ask him for my $20.
...afterall the sound of an orange you threw traveling 110 miles an hour hitting a metal sign is worth $20, any day!
Shoot... the sound of the 60 MPH whistle was $20 worth...
The sign was bonus pay!
:^)
I miss those days...
-NolansFastball
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