“Well, this writes finish to my plans for the cherry festival,” Mr. McLean said unhappily. “Too bad!”
Mr. Hooper also moved back from the truck. He was very discouraged. Although it was not his fault that the pickers were leaving, he would lose more than any of the other orchard owners.
At the far end of the line of trucks, Veve spied Juan sitting on a pile of canvas with some other children. She hurried over to speak to him.
“Oh, Juan!” she said. “It isn’t fair for the pickers to leave when Mr. Hooper needs them so badly.”
“My father has decided,” answered Juan. “We are unwanted here.”
“Oh, that isn’t so, Juan. It was all a mistake that you were ordered away from the festival tonight.”
“That’s true,” added Connie. She had followed Veve to the truck. “Mr. Wingate had no right to order you away. After all, it wasn’t his festival.”
“The Brownies all wanted you to be there,” Veve said, noticing that Juan was listening hard to Connie’s arguments.
“And so did Miss Gordon, our leader,” Connie went on. “She said it would be a shame if the pickers left the community.”