“You realize some are rotten.”
“I don’t want those.”
He laughed again.
“Lady, this entire pile is rejected.”
“Rejected and rotten are not the same thing.”
That got his attention.
Claire pointed toward the bays.
“I want cracked fruit that’s still sound.”
“Cosmetic rejects.”
“Overripe fruit within limits.”
“No visible mold.”
“No chemical contamination.”
“No fruit that’s been mixed with trash.”
The manager stared.
“You’ve thought about this.”
“I started thinking yesterday.”
“That is not what I meant.”
Claire smiled.
They agreed on a trial load.
Free.
Claire paid transport.
She returned home with four tons of rejected melons.
Tom Weaver happened to drive past when the dump truck arrived.
He stopped.
Backed up.
Then rolled down his window.
“Claire.”
She looked over.
“What?”
“What the hell is that?”
“Melons.”
“I can see that.”
“Then why ask?”
Tom stepped out.
The truck lifted its bed.
Watermelons tumbled onto a prepared concrete pad behind the barn.
Tom stared as though witnessing a crime.
“You paid money for this?”
“Transport.”
“Why?”
“Experiment.”
“With what?”
Claire looked at him.
“Things.”
Tom laughed.
That was the first laugh.
Many followed.
Claire did not feed the melons immediately.
That surprised people.
She called the county extension office.
Then a cattle nutritionist at the state university.
She explained what she wanted to try.
The nutritionist asked questions.
Moisture.
Sugar.
Fiber.
Protein.
Storage.
Spoilage.
Claire answered what she knew.
Then admitted what she did not.
Good answers began there.
They designed a small trial.
Rejected melons could provide moisture and energy, but they were not complete feed.
Claire needed dry roughage.
Fiber.
Protein balance.
Minerals.
She had low-grade hay.
Corn stalks.
Some soybean hulls.
The nutritionist helped her calculate a safe ration.
The first batch looked absurd.
Chopped melon.
Hay.
Stalks.
A measured supplement.
Claire mixed it using an old feed wagon.
Her cattle approached cautiously.
One cow sniffed.
Backed away.
Another tasted it.
Then another.
Within minutes, several were eating.
Claire wrote everything down.
She weighed feed.
Observed manure.