Chapter 6

Adam had hoped that the sunshine of the past few weeks would hold up until the harvest. But on a Monday morning in early July, he awoke to claps of thunder. Getting out of bed, he opened the blinds to see torrential rain falling like bullets from the sky. Hail pinged the roof, and a bolt of lightning burst across the sky.

The rain continued all day. It stopped for a bit in the evening, but started up again by Tuesday morning. By Wednesday, it had rained so hard that flash flood warnings had been issued across the state, and the river was about to flood from its banks. There was so much water that the unpaved roads around Heron’s Landing—and there were plenty of them—turned to mud, and many of its citizens had to stay home or walk to their destination, as any vehicle would get stuck the moment it was put in drive.

By Wednesday afternoon, the sun had come out, but Adam knew it was too late. Going into the fields with Jaime and a few others of his staff, they all saw how the rain had de