Yeah, Cowboy’s the best goddamn picker you ever see. Strip an orchard in nothin’ flat.You name it: apples, cherries, lemons, oranges, an’ he’ll pick two bins ta everybody else’s one. Never seen nothin’ like it. Goddamn guy’s a blur the way he goes through a tree, runnin’ up an’ down the ladder. He’s the only guy I know c’n make any kinda money in them Florida oranges. Got them twenty foot wooden ladders down there, like ta weigh a hunnderd poun’s. He moves them things ‘roun’ like they was nothin’. Hell, them ladders, they git the least little off balance, an’ down they go. Goddamn things is more awkward n’ an armful a snakes, an’ he moves ‘em ‘roun’ a tree like they was made outta toothpicks.

He’s knowed all up an’ down the line, from Florida ta Washin’ton. Don’t think them growers an’ contractors don’t know ‘bout him either. They watch him, an’ soon’s he calls it quits fer the day, the boss’ll call ta ever’body else ta finish up. I seen ‘em come over an’ say, “Well, Cowboy, how you doin’?” An’ Cowboy’ll let ‘em know he’s workin’ on his last bin fer the day, an’ the boss’ll holler out, “Finish up yer bins men, last bin.” Them bosses know their fruit ain’t gonna move outta the grove any faster ‘n Cowboy c’n pick, so when he calls it quits, the word goes out fer everybody ta knock off.

He’s a clean picker, don’t hardly leave no fruit on the trees. Some guys is sloppy pickers, leave a good lotta that top fruit on the tree, leave it ta rot.  Them growers like a clean picker.  Means there’s more fruit fer ‘em ta sell. If Cowboy cain’t make no money in an orchard, then you know it’s a bad orchard. I seen him walk out of an orchard, jus’ up an’ quit, on account a the fruit wasn’t right, too small er somethin’, an’ take three, four guys with him. See, these fruit pickers know if Cowboy think he  ain’t gonna make no money, they sure as hell ain’t.

He’ll make more in a day ‘n anyone on the crew, but he ain’t stingy like some guys. One time me an’ him was pickin’ oranges, an’ this Mexican kid was workin’ the next tree over, an’ Cowboy sez ta the kid, “Hey kid, how is it that you ain’t in school?” An’ the kid tells him how he’s gotta pick till he gits ‘nuff money so’s the ‘lectric comp’ny don’t shut off the lights in his house. Come the end a the day, we’re sittin’ on the crew bus, ready ta go back ta town, an’ the driver’s callin’ out our pay. An’ he calls Watson’s name, Bill Watson, that’s Cowboy’s right name, an’ he goes an’ gits the money from the driver, an’ sits down in the back a the bus an’ han’s ten dollars over ta the kid. He han’s it to him, an’ he sez, “Give the ‘lectric comp’ny my regards.”

107.