Orchard of Hope
Page 37
They all went down into the field. Even Wes, who sat on the tailgate of one of the trucks and told Jocie and Cassidy how trees were planted on Jupiter while they watched the men dig out the broken trees.
Jocie smiled at him. “I’ll bet they don’t even have apple trees on Jupiter.”
“Well, not exactly apples, but something close. They’re called jupples, and if you eat one of them you can jump twice as high as you could. So you don’t have to worry about a ladder or anything when you’re picking them. You just grab one, take a big bite, and then you can jump right up and pick off the rest of them.”
Cassidy giggled, and Wes smiled at her. “Fresh ears. The Lord is blessing me for sure.”
Jocie laughed too, more with relief than because the story was funny. “I’m glad you’re still from Jupiter,” she said.
“What’s the matter, Jo? You think the good Lord can’t love somebody from Jupiter?” Wes raised his eyebrows as he peered over at Jocie.
“No. Today I think anything is possible,” Jocie said.
“Just ‘think’?” Wes asked.
“Okay. Today I know anything is possible.” She looked at Cassidy. “What do you know, Cassidy?”
Cassidy looked at Jocie and Wes with sparkling brown eyes as she said, “That my Granny Sally says Mr. Harvey’s angels are going to be watching over me and my daddy’s apple trees. And she knows.”
Ann H. Gabhart and her husband live on a farm just over the hill from where she was born, in central Kentucky. Ann is the author of over a dozen novels for adults and young adults. She’s active in her country church, and her husband sings bass in a southern gospel quartet.
In the humid summer of 1964,
one family’s secrets come to life
ON THE SURFACE, Hollyhill, Kentucky, seems to be well insulated from the turbulent world beyond its quiet streets. Life-changing events rarely happen here, and when they do, they are few and far between. But for Jocie Brooke and her family, they happen all at once. Discover what comes to pass when the secrets everyone wants to hide are suddenly uncovered . . .
Don’t miss the beginning of Jocie’s story!
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