The immigrant

November 24, 1987

FROM the hill I see the trees - transplants from other orchards, foreigners now thriving on this green slope - stretching out in sturdy rows, their fruit crimson sweetness ready for harvest. Around and between them, my grandfather walks, his cane a scythe to the grass, a prod to the branches; his Italian words speak of the crop's abundance and the sustaining soil of his new land.