Short stories

English 8 "Imagine This"

An Orange's Life

The bright sun floated above the rolling hills, its golden rays caressing the green leaves of the orange tree. My eyes opened and I looked across the field at all my friends. I live in the San Joaquin Valley, one of the only places in California where citrus fruits can be grown. The wind picked up and gently tickled me, and I could feel the vitamin C pulsing through my inner being. Farmer Jed walked by whistling a soft tune.

"You're gaining some new friends today!" he said, looking at each of the trees in turn. "The new trees are coming to us from Asia." He then walked away whistling that same sunny melody.

The new trees came around noon. I looked at the newcomers as they shone their smiling faces. They were planted in the row next to mine.

"Hi, I'm Hua," one of the oranges on the tree exclaimed, her mouth split in a smile as the facial peel cracked into a quirky grin.

"I'm Cam," I answered. "The other oranges say that I'm shy. I guess that I sort of am."

The new tree settled in nicely. It was late autumn and my coloring was becoming more orange than green; I would soon need to be picked. Hua's coloring was different, more green than orange. I decided to ask her if something was wrong.

"Hua? Is something wrong? Your coloring looks off," I informed her.

"I have Huanglongbing," she answered.

I blinked at her and stared in disbelief. Huanglongbing, HLB, or "Citrus greening" is a bacterial infection caused by a tiny insect called the Asian citrus psyllid that lives in Asia, but is a problem with citrus fruits nationally.

"Please don't tell Farmer Jed! He saved all of our lives when he moved us here," she pleaded with me.

If I didn't tell Farmer Jed, one tree could ruin the whole orchard for years, maybe centuries. Many of the neighboring orchards had to be quarantined because of HLB. All types of citrus fruits are affected by HLB and there is no cure, or a way to eliminate the Asian citrus psyllid.

"Hua, you need to tell Farmer Jed about this because it could jeopardize the whole orchard, putting all of our lives in danger to rot here instead of our fruit being processed in a plant and going to a store to be sold," I informed her.

"No! I will not tell him about it!" she insisted.

Fine! Be that selfish! I thought. If Hua was really going to be that selfish then I would just have to tell Farmer Jed myself.

The next day, I looked at the tree closest to Hua's tree. All the oranges looked greener than the ones on my tree. One of them rolled off the tree and looked at me. I squinted at him and noticed tiny green bugs on him. Huanglongbing! I thought.

"Farmer Jed! Farmer Jed!" I called, glancing at Hua and her tree. He needed to know what was happening.

"Yes?" he answered.

"The tree that you brought from Asia has Huanglongbing and is infecting all the other trees," I told him. I felt bad for Hua, but I didn't want the whole orchard to die just because of one tree that happened to have one of my friends on it.

Later that day, Farmer Jed came over with a shovel and two packing carts. I watched bleakly as he uprooted Hua's tree and the one next to it. I would miss Hua terribly, but her tree had to be moved for the good of the orchard.

"Goodbye, Hua!" I shouted, her looming absence like a blow to my heart.

"Farewell, Cam! I know we didn't know each other very long but I am grateful for the short time we had together," she cried back. It seemed she had forgiven me for revealing her secret.

In the following week I still felt the guilt. You had to tell Farmer Jed, I told myself. All the other trees received a shock from hearing about the HLB, but realized we only lost two trees instead of many more of us. Speaking up for the good of many is better than only thinking about yourself.