We Fight Dragons (Volume 2, Chapter 10) "The harvest"

It was early Summer. The school holidays were in full swing, and it was the busiest day of the Strawberry harvest.

Mum and Dad had invited everyone they knew to help, with the promise that they could each take a bucket of strawberries home at the end of the day, and that they would provide tea and lunch for everyone who helped.

Mum rented the strawberry fields and garden beds, as well as her goji-tree orchard, from the town each year. As the tenant she could sell anything that she grew, and most of it went to Urbridge city where farm-grown produce was popular and fetched a high price.

Oli was there for the picking, as well as Zach and Tracey. The whole Dawson family was there, although Jam thought they were either keeping to themselves or avoiding him specifically, which made him sad.

A car that he had never seen before pulled up and parked by the gate. A girl his age got out and bounded towards him waving. She had her hair up in a brown woollen beanie, and it took Jam a moment to recognise that it was Mels.

Mels parents also got out of the car and were following, waving to Mum and Dad who greeted them warmly.

‘Hey, Jam! How cool is this!’ Mels said excitedly, looking around the fields.

Jam hadn’t been enthusiastic about anything for weeks, and it took a moment before her infectious vibe rubbed off on him. ‘Hey, Mels. I can’t believe you came all the way for this. It’s hard work you know?’

‘I don’t mind. There’s nothing like this in the city. People have gardens, pretend you know, but this is the real deal. Anyway, how have you been?’

‘Good. Good,’ he lied. ‘How about you?’ He asked as much to change the subject as anything else.

‘Me? Well, I had a fight with Zar… but then we made up…’ Mels started telling him everything important that had happened since they last spoke. Jam knew most of it from the letters she wrote, but he was happy just to listen if it meant that he didn’t have to talk. When the saga was over, she asked, ‘So do you have a mobile phone yet?’

‘Nah, not yet. Going to have to keep writing.’

‘So, what, your parents still think you aren’t ‘mature enough’ yet?’

Normally, Jam would have laughed at his own expense. But the question of his own maturity, his poor judgement, had been weighing on his mind lately. ‘Yeah. Something like that,’ he said distractedly.

‘Okay. You sound very serious. But I bet I can make you smile.’

‘Yeah?’ Jam was curious, and keen to be distracted.

‘But you can’t laugh. You can smile, but you have to promise not to laugh.’

‘Sure,’ said Jam, thinking that such a vague promise only had to be vaguely kept.

Mels fidgeted with her beanie for a moment, then yanked it off suddenly, revealing a bob of bright red hair, with a bleached blonde crown, and black spots died across the whole lot like someone had taken the nib off an ink pen and flicked it all over her hair.

She was silent, looking for a reaction, with a look that was half-excited, half-nervous.

What the heck! Thought Jam. ‘What the heck!’ he said without thinking.

‘What? You don’t like it.’

‘Did you do that on purpose! It looks… stupid.’ Jam laughed when he said it, but his words didn’t have the effect that he was hoping for.

Mels’ face went red, and she didn’t know where to look. She turned around, looking for her parents, and briskly marched off towards them.

Jam knew he’d done something wrong, or more likely, said something wrong. But what was he supposed to do? Tell her it looked good? It was a mess. A genuine disaster. He struggled to imagine what she had been thinking.

Mels was wiping tears back from her eyes, as she walked towards her mother. However, Mum had already sensed the girl’s distress and moved speak with her first.

Jam couldn’t hear what they said. Mum took Mels hand and started slowly walking her around the fields, showing her the strawberries, and listening to whatever Mels was saying.

At one point Jam noticed that Tobes was watching him, with a deadly look on his face. Had Tobes seem him make Mels upset? Probably. It looked like it.

After they had been around one of the fields, Mum and Mels came back to the others. Mels was no longer teary, but she looked a bit sad. Jam was relieved when she hugged her mum and dad before they drove off. She was going to stay.

He was so relieved that he got a real shock when Dad casually walked past him and said, ‘You can be very silly some times. That must have taken her hours to do. Who do you think she went to all that effort for?’

Dad was right, Jam had to confess. And even more important than the time it had taken, Mels had gone out on a limb, taking a risk in front of someone who she trusted as a friend. And he’d broken that trust by making fun of her. ‘I understand, Dad. I’ll make it up to her. I’ll think of a way.’ Jam wondered if Tobes was right, about how thoughtless he could be.

For the whole morning Mels worked with Mum. He saw her occasionally looking his way, but she always turned her back when she noticed him notice.

By the time morning-tea was served, fresh goji-juice and pears, Jam had a tall bucket full of strawberries. As Mum was busy distributing cups and juice, Jam dragged his heavy bucket it over to Mels.

‘Hi. How’s it going?’ he asked gently.

Mels wiped her brow. ‘It’s tough. My back’s getting sore.’

‘Um, I wanted to apologise.’ Jam couldn’t think of any other way to say it. ‘Your hair. It’s not stupid. It must have taken ages.’

‘No,’ said Mels, ‘I think maybe you’re right. It is stupid.’

‘I think it’s clever.’

‘Clever? You do? Why?’ She sounded suspicious.

‘I get it. Red on the sides. White on top. Black seeds. A strawberry! Right?’

Mels smiled. ‘You worked it out!’ Then she teased him, ‘I’m just glad you didn’t invite me to pick gooseberries!’

Jam let out a breath that he didn’t realise he’d been holding. It was a relief to be able to joke about it. ‘Hey, the deal here is that you get to keep a portion of what you pick, so…’ Jam looked around to make sure that no one was watching him, then he tipped most of his bucket into Mel’s until it was overflowing.

‘Jam, that took you hours! What are you doing?’

‘Apologising.’

Mels shook her head, smiling at the overflowing bucket. ‘Best apology I’ve ever had.’

‘So, you’re staying all day? I hope you stay all day? After harvest we usually have a roast for dinner. Dad got a roast from the butcher this morning.’

Mels thought about it, making him sweat on the answer. ‘Okay. I’ll stay. But I’ll have to ask my parents about dinner.’

By the time lunch came around, Jam had picked so many strawberries that his back was also beginning to ache. When he went to the tap to wash his hands, he ran into Tobes.

‘I saw that,’ said Tobes.

‘Huh?’

‘Don’t play dumb. I saw you upset Mels. Probably said something you shouldn’t have. Again.’

Jam was annoyed that Tobes was judging him without the full story. Just like he had with Emma. ‘Just buzz off, Tobes. I’m hungry. I want to go eat.’

‘What did you say to me?’ said Tobes, angrily. ‘You are so full of yourself.’ He stepped close and shoved Jam in the chest.

Without thinking about it, Jam’s power rose up and his legs locked, preventing him from being pushed over. He put a hand on Tobes chest and ‘pushed’. He only meant it to be a warning, but it knocked Tobes off his feet and into the mud around the tap.

‘Damn you!’ exclaimed Tobes. ‘I was right. You have powers, and you’ll use them on anyone who doesn’t. Do you know what you are? You are just a bully. It’s unfair. You’re nobody without your powers!’

‘You know nothing about it!’ Jam retorted. 'I didn’t get a choice. I was born with them. And they come with their own problems. Oh, yeah, and I apologised to Mels and we are good now. If you had opened your eyes you would have seen that. You just wanted a fight. Admit it.’

Tobes scrambled to his feet, for a moment he thought about saying something back. Then, without a word, he turned around and walked off in a stink.

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