The Cider House Rules

"They're all so old, they'll be easily brainwashed," Mrs. Goodhall said.

Dr. Gingrich, who was increasingly fascinated with the leaps of Mrs. Goodhall's mind, was still marveling over the confusing image of a nonpracticing homosexual; it struck him as a brilliant accusation to make of anyone who was slightly (or hugely) different. It was the best rumor to start about anyone because it could never be proved or disproved. Dr. Gingrich wished he'd considered the accusation--just as a means of provocation--when he'd still been practicing psychiatry.

And now, not only was Dr. Larch old and homosexual and nonpracticing--he was also in danger of being brainwashed by a young Red.

Dr. Gingrich was dying to find out what Dr. Larch's responses might be to the accusation that he was a nonpracticing homosexual, because Dr. Larch was so outspoken on the issue of Nurse Caroline's politics.

"She's a socialist, not a Communist!" Dr. Larch protested to the board.

"Same difference," as they say in Maine--about so many things.

"The next thing you know," Larch complained to his nurses, "they'll be asking us to denounce things."

"What would we denounce?" Nurse Edna asked worriedly.

"Let's make a list," Larch said.

"The abortion laws," Nurse Angela said.

"At the top of the list!" Larch agreed.

"Oh my!" Nurse Edna said.

"Republicans," said Wilbur Larch. "And the board of trustees," he added.

"Oh dear," Nurse Edna said.

"Capitalism," Nurse Caroline said.

"There's never been any capital around here," Dr. Larch said.

"Insects and scab!" Nurse Edna said. They all stared at her. "And maggots," Nurse Edna added. "They're what I have to spray the apple trees for. Insects and scab and maggots."

As a result, Wilbur Larch dug out of a closet the old black leather bag he'd had at the Boston Lying-In; he took the bag to a cobbler in Three Mile Falls who also repaired ladies' handbags and put gold initials on saddles, and he had the cobbler engrave on his old black bag the gold initials F.S.--for Fuzzy Stone.

That August of 195_, just a few days before the picking crew was expected at Ocean View, Wilbur Larch sent the doctor's bag to Homer Wells. It was the time of year, every year, when Melony took her vacation.

Most of the shipyard workers, even the electricians, took a couple of weeks in the summer and a couple of weeks around Christmas, but Melony took a whole month during harvest time; it made her feel good--or, maybe, young again--to pick apples. This year, she had decided, she'd try working at Ocean View.

She still hitchhiked whenever and wherever she traveled, and because she wore only men's work clothes, she still looked like a tramp; no one would ever know that she was a shipyard's skilled electrician, with enough money in a savings account to buy a nice house and a couple of cars.

When Melony arrived at the apple mart, Big Dot Taft was the first to see her. Big Dot and Florence Hyde were arranging some of the display tables, although the only new apples they had available were the Gravensteins. They had mostly jellies and jams and honey. Irene Titcomb was working the pie ovens. Wally was in the office; he was on the telephone and didn't see Melony--and she didn't see him.

Candy was in the kitchen of the fancy house, talking real estate to Olive's vulgar brother, Bucky Bean. Bucky had bought what was left of the point of land Ray Kendall had owned on Heart's Haven Harbor. Bucky had put a very cheap and shabby seafood restaurant there--one of Maine's first carhop restaurants, one of those places where young girls dressed like cheerleaders bring you mostly fried and mostly tepid food, which you consume in your car. The food attaches itself to the cars by means of wobbly little trays that cling to the doors of the cars when the windows are rolled down. Homer always wanted to take Wilbur Larch to such a place--only to hear what the old man would say. Larch's response, Homer was sure, would be related to his response to television and to Senator Joe McCarthy.

Bucky Bean's new idea was to buy the part of the orchard called Cock Hill and sell it in one-acre lots as "summer property" with a view of the ocean.

Candy was in the process of rejecting the offer when Melony arrived at the apple mart. Candy's opinion was that one-acre lots were too small and that the unsuspecting new owners would be unprepared for the chemical spray used on the apples that would regularly float over and descend upon their property every summer. Also, the families who bought property and built houses would doubtlessly believe it was their right to climb the fences and pick all the apples they wanted.

"You're just like Olive," Bucky Bean complained. "You've got no imagination concerning the future."

That was when Melony approached Big Dot Taft, not only because Big Dot appeared to be in charge but also because Melony felt comfortable with big, fat women. Big Dot smiled to see how hefty Melony was; the two women appeared predisposed to like each other when Melony spoke--her voice reverberating through the near-empty stalls and surprising Meany Hyde and Vernon Lynch, who were putting water in the John Deere's radiator. When Melony tried to speak normally, her voice was peculiarly deep; when she tried to raise the pitch of her voice, most people thought she was shouting.

"Does a guy named Homer Wells work here?" Melony asked Big Dot.

"He sure does," Big Dot said cheerfully. "Are you a pal of Homer's?"

"I used to be," Melony said. "I haven't seen him in a while," she added coyly--at least coyly for Melony, whose love affair with Lorna had made her occasionally self-conscious and shy with other women; her self-confidence around men was as steadfast as ever.