field-stone, irregular, the rim half taken by moss. the water comes from the same vein as the kitchen-yard well but tastes nothing alike — sweet, faintly of apple by mid-august, decidedly of apple by october, when the windfalls bob in the bucket on the way up.
the old russet leans over the wall and drops fruit into the well most years. nobody discourages it. the cook strains the bucket through muslin and finds at least one piece of skin in every third draw between michaelmas and frost.
local belief: a stolen apple, dropped in deliberately, will come up rotten. a given apple will come up whole. the orchard-keeper has only once tested this and will not say which kind he dropped.
field-note · drink at the rim in late october. the water smells of tart for about a minute, no longer.
kitchen-yard · garden · apple · apple tree · the garden