The October harvest on the terraces below the stone house — the first without Elias, who had left for Brazil the year before. Fourteen pickers, two borrowed donkeys, and nets under every tree.
What happened
The olives are knocked down with long sticks onto nets, gathered into baskets, and carried to the press in the village the same day, or the oil turns. That year it rained on the third day and the whole family carried baskets up the outside stair to keep them dry.
Who was involved
Organised by Teta, who did not pick but counted every basket. Fouad climbed the big tree himself, against advice.
What came of it
Thirty-one tins of oil, one of which was sent to São Paulo by sea and arrived, eight months later, intact. Elias wrote that he had cried. Fouad said he was exaggerating. Elias wrote back that he was not.