Stolen Peaches

There is a house on our street that has 5 peach, a nectarine, and an apple tree. This house has a sad history over the past few years. The original owner, Eve, was slowing down quite a bit three years ago and couldn't keep up with the trees. Her son (who lived next door) said we could go pick some of the fruit since they had all they wanted. You know how much Shaun and I love fresh fruit so we were ecstatic and gorged ourselves. The peaches were huge, so sweet and melted in your mouth. We were hooked.

Eve went into a rest home just over two years ago. The house went up for sale. It sat on the market for a while. It just so happened to be vacant around this time of year two years ago. Shaun and I eyed those peaches. One day we went over to check them out. They were perfectly ripe and begging to be taken. So we picked two grocery bags full. Oh they were so good! My parents had us over and there were so many left on the trees we decided to take what we had picked and give them away. After the party we came home to pick more (after dark so people wouldn't see us). But to our chagrin someone else had come that day and stripped the trees! We were devastated and angry at whomever had taken our peaches. We saw them first! Watch out if we ever figure out who you are...

Fast forward a year. I was pregnant and very sick. I hated fruit. It's acidity made me want to puke (honestly breathing made me puke). But I loved the smell. Shaun would cut up a few slices and put them in a cup and set them on the bed next to me. All day I would smell them, but not taste. It was so sad. Quick detour, Shaun and I planted a peach tree of our own when we bought this house. But it takes a few years for the peaches to grow. Last year was the first year we got peaches off it. They were big, beautiful, and according to Shaun very tasty. Oh the irony that I couldn't eat any. Eve's house had renters so we couldn't have taken the fruit there even if we wanted to.

That brings me to this year. Shaun almost killed our peach tree by moving it (a story for another post). So no peaches there. All our hopes lie in Eve's house. Winter comes, the renters move out, and the house goes up for sale again. With the market the way it is we have hope it will be vacant end of August when the peaches are ripe. Spring comes, still vacant. We go over to check out the trees. One had died, they cut down another, and the smallest one wasn't looking very good. We thinned the peaches looking forward to August hoping the house wouldn't sell. Now we have invested in these trees. Periodically we go over and check them out. One tree has the best peaches, we watch it closely. And another tree dies because isn't getting watered. Two trees left, plus some hanging over from the neighbors house. Of course still the nectarines and the apple trees are doing fine. But who cares about those?

One day we were talking to the neighbor who is upset about the shape the yard is in because the owner hasn't cleaned it up. He mentions he is thinking about calling the county to get them to do something. But NO! what about our peaches. We covertly convince him to wait the summer out in case the owner does something to clean it up.

Three weeks ago Shaun saw a man cleaning up the place. He goes over to protect our commodity. The guy owns the house and says we can have the peaches. We are excited, but worried that we drew his attention to them and maybe he will take them anyway. So we go over after he leaves that night. Even in the dark we can tell he picked the biggest, ripest ones for himself. Thwarted again! But the battle isn't over. There are still plenty left. We keep an even closer eye on them now. Keep taking just a few in case someone else beats us to them. We have a constant debate.
Shaun: "Should we go pick them in case someone else does?"
Katie: "But they just aren't quite ripe yet. They will taste much better if they ripen on the vine."
So we give it another couple of days. Then after dark we sneak over again. This time:
Katie: " They are almost ripe. Maybe we should just pick them."
Shaun: "No, not yet. We'll get a few, just in case, and then check again on Friday."

Last night Shaun noticed the owner there again. We fret over the possibility of him taking more. But he is working inside so we hope he won't go out in the dark. Shaun sneaks over and picks a few more. This picture is of one of them. They are so close to being ripe (although we have been thinking that for weeks now). Everyday we leave them opens them to someone else coming to steal them from us. The question is, how long do we wait? Check back to find out...