After the Orchard

The family orchard in Kakheti has been sold to a developer, and the machines arrive in autumn. Eteri has one condition, which is not negotiable and which she does not explain: Nana is to learn the name, the age and the story of every tree on the property first.

So they walk the rows for a week, in the kind of golden light that makes the whole thing worse. They gather windfalls. They argue about what is worth remembering and what is simply hoarding.

Nana wants to leave for Tbilisi in September. By the fourth day she has understood that the lesson was never about trees, and she keeps walking the rows anyway.