'I don't want any bums in my family'

Once in a while you meet someone who leaves you wondering where all the sensible folks have gone. You wish you could make a copy.

That was Maria recently. We sat side-by-side at the doctor's office in Yakima. There wasn't much else to do, so we started chatting.

Maria was there to check on her iron level. She was anemic, she said, and she did appear sleepy, tired and sluggish.

But anemia wasn't the whole story.

Maria rises at about 2 a.m. in Yakima these days and, with her husband, drives to Paterson. They want to be in the blueberry fields at first light to take advantage of the morning cool.

Maria spends the rest of the day on her knees picking the little fruits from bushes that are no more than three feet high. And she doesn't complain.

"It's what we do," said the 30-year-old. "We start with the cherries and end with the apples. As soon as we're done with one job, we look for another. We have six months to earn the money we live on and save for winter."

I suggested she probably looked forward to getting home - at about 6 p.m. - and some rest. No, she said. She has three lively boys. The oldest is nine, and they need her.

What about your husband? Does he help?

"Oh yeah. But it's the same for him. The kids keep him awake too. And then when I go to bed I have trouble sleeping."

Maria and her husband aren't just pickers. They are pickers of the first order. One 10-day job in the cherries brought $2,700. One day they earned $466 each picking blueberries. Both can do $250-300 a day in the pears.

The couple is living well. Money is being saved for winter, and money is being saved toward a business they hope to open next year.

One challenge, Maria said, is that the trees and bushes aren't uniform, and production is not constant. There are forced days off.

That's good, I suggested. You can get some rest.

"No," she said. "I don't like being idle."

"The other day a friend said she had already worked as much as required," she added. "I didn't understand that. She said if she made more money, her rent would be raised.

"I don't understand that kind of thinking. I pay $700 a month in rent. It's okay if it goes up because I know I'll be living in a better house."

Well then, maybe the winter layoff is a good time to catch up on rest, I suggested.

"I hate winter," she said. "I hate being in the house all the time. I'd rather be working. My husband goes to pruning. So he keeps on working."

Maria speaks broken English, but she's learning. Instead of forcing the children to speak Spanish, she joins them in English. It's a struggle, but she doesn't want to hold them back.

"When I go to the parent conferences, they tell me my kids speak English without an accent," she said. "I'm proud of that. They're going to have a chance in America."

The boys, ages 6-9, are growing in other ways too. Their clothing and shoes sizes are bigger, and they need more clothes than before. And they are starting to understand what is fashionable and what is not.

"They were starting to ask for this brand and that brand," Maria said. "They have no idea how much things cost. So I took them to the cherries."

The boys were allowed to pick from the ground. They each made $20-25 a day for a few weeks.

"I didn't take any of what they earned, and I didn't give them more than they earned," Maria said.

Each time the boys were paid, Maria took them yard-saleing. She warned them to save enough for their paletas (Mexican popsicles). They spent everything the first time and went a week without paletas. But they learned and were careful in subsequent weeks.

"They also learned they can get some pretty good clothing at yard sales," Maria said.

Another thing Maria's boys are learning is to clean house. Even though they need her in the evening, she's teaching them that she needs them.

"I tell them I don't want any bums in my family," she said.

And, oh, by the way, that work Maria does in the fields, on her knees all day, is happening while she carries a baby that's due in about three weeks.