Petterton Winery and today he had proved his worth. He had kept the last bottling unit running long enough to empty the last barrel. It was so sad. The Petterton grape had been grown in this valley for almost 500 years and the Petterton family had been making wine here just as long.
Samuel was the last of the Pettertons and he had as little interest in producing children as he had in producing wine. Money that should have been plowed back into the business was plowed into his personal pursuit of pleasure. Money that should have been spent repairing and replacing equipment was used to rebuild the ancestral home as a mansion. Money that should have been spent repairing irrigation systems was used to build a private lake. The list went on and on.
As the winery went downhill, the production and the profits did to. Not only was the business end of the estate falling apart, there was no money for upkeep on the mansion. Samuel Petterton was reduced to living in the last few rooms of the mansion that were still livable.
Now Mr. Petterton needed a better regeneration treatment than Cocuru could provide. He was going to sell everything for a few more years in a 20 year old hide. Regeneration didn’t add to your life, it shortened it. You looked younger, but Michael would rather have his God given 120 years in an old body, than be buried in a 20 year old body at 80. Samuel never asked Michael his opinion.
Michael loved this place. He loved the planet Cocuru. The moment he stepped off the star transport Michael knew Cocuru was meant to be his home. Samuel’s father had hired him. That man had wine in his blood. He would be spinning in his grave if he knew what his son had let happen to his beloved vineyard.
In spite of their lack of care this year’s crop of grapes was lush and full. This would have been a great year for the house wine. The new owners would plow this year’s grapes under to prepare the fields for the new grapes.
The new owners would almost certainly be the Torenbough vineyards. Their holdings bordered the Petterton holdings. Silus Torenbough took care of his business. His family had been making wine in this valley as long as the Pettertons and he wanted to give his children a more prosperous vineyard than the one his father had given him.
Silus had already offered Michael a chance to keep his job. He would be second master gardener after Barnabus.
Barnabus had been one of the first friends Michael had made on Cocuru and Barnabus had introduced Michael to his future wife Mildred. Michael liked Barnabus, but Michael would never work under Barnabus.
When the winery closed Michael and Mildred would move to the planet Thracsis and live near their children and grandchildren. Michael had been born on Thracsis and his children had moved there as soon as they finished mandatory. Mildred had been born on Cocuru and had never left the planet until she had weddings to attend and grandchildren to hold. They both loved Cocuru, but to see their children everyday would be a blessing.
Michael heard the sound of Merritt’s ship landing. Merritt was on time, as usual. The last bottle didn’t go into one of the boxes. Michael and Mildred would open it on their last evening before leaving Cocuru forever.
◊Cocuru is an agricultural planet with a gentle sun and an atmosphere better than most at filtering out its sun’s harmful rays. Getting sunburn on Cocuru is very difficult, even at the equator, and a dark tan on Cocuru comes only out of a bottle.
When I left the ship I felt as though I had come home. I don’t know if it was the green of the grass or the shade of blue in the sky or the bird that sat on a branch and just stared at me… I was home. I had never felt the sun feel so good on my skin. It took a conscious effort not to take off all my clothes and run naked.
The landing pad was on a bluff overlooking a small valley. There was green everywhere, mostly well ordered if slightly overgrown grapevines. There was also a patch of forest and a lake with a stream running in one end and out the other. Between the bluff and the lake was a large house flanked by rows of sheds. A man came out one of the sheds and came up the walkway towards us. He and Merritt embraced and Merritt introduced me and explained why I had come.
“Buy the estate. Are you in the business of making wine? Do you know what’s involved?” asked the man named Michael.
“The only thing I know about wine is how to drink it. I love the wine that’s made here. I want it to keep being produced. That’s why I want to buy the estate,” I told him.
Michael showed me around the grounds. Michael pointed out the equipment that needed to be repaired or replaced, the sheds that needed to be rebuilt, and the equipment that was so old that replacement parts were no longer being made. We walked the fields and talked about the irrigation system that needed to be completely rebuilt. Michael also showed me the grapes. He told me that because the weather had been ideal, this year was going to be a bumper crop.
“I take it that’s a good thing?” I asked him.
“It means that if I have the equipment to pick and process the grapes and age and bottle the wine, the estate could make a real profit this year,” Michael told me.
We went over the numbers. With improvements and repairs to the business, minor repairs to the big house, and keeping a reasonable reserve, I could match the Torenbough bid. If it came to a bidding war, I would be in trouble.
<><>
Silus Torenbough and Samuel Petterton had just finished lunch. Silus knew he had Samuel over a barrel. Silus lowered his bid by 10 percent. Samuel grumbled, but he knew he would have to take the lower bid. Silus told Samuel he had till morning to decide or the price would go down again.
Returning home Samuel found an annoying young man with an idiotic grin on his face waiting for him. The young man offered to match Silus’ higher bid. The child babbled on about how much the vineyards felt like home, and how much he loved Cocuru, and how much he loved the Petterton wine, and blah, blah, blah. Samuel signed over the deed, pocketed the payment code, grabbed a handful of clothes, and left Cocuru never to return.
Mildred loved the planet of Cocuru. She had always loved Cocuru. Still her children and grandchildren loved the planet of Thracsis and she would find a way to be happy there too. Michael stumbled through the door.
“A man from the planet Udell just bought the estate. His name is Bob Nesslun. He gave me money for repairs, he is giving me half the profits, and he is giving me a year’s salary as a bonus for staying. Bob doesn’t know anything about growing grapes or making wine, but I think his heart is in the right place. He is even willing to let me bring in grapes from other planets for a potential new house wine.” Producing a blended grape wine by bringing in grapes from other planets had been a dream of Michael’s since he had first set foot on Cocuru.
“How old is he? Is Bob married?” asked Mildred.
“Mid twenties I guess. I don’t think Bob’s married. He didn’t say anything about a wife. Samuel has already left. Bob’s staying in Samuel’s rooms in the big house.”
“You did invite him to dinner?” Mildred asked.
“I didn’t think to....”
Mildred was out the door and down the path to the big house before Michael finished his sentence. As she walked in the door the young man jumped up with a startled expression on his face. The startled expression gave way to bewilderment. Michael had overestimated his age. “If Bob is a day over twenty, I’m the green piper,” thought Mildred. “Hello, my name is Mildred. I’m Michael’s wife. He told me you just bought the estate.”
“I
