Braided band tattoo on a ring finger

The Bramleys came in early this year, so the pickers have been up the ladders since the second week of August, and Mam has had the perry pears in the cellar wrapped in newspaper since before you'd have had your breakfast. I am writing because the lane outside the orchard gate has gone soft with windfalls and I have nobody to complain to who knows the difference between a russet and a rotten.

I have finished the cord you asked about. It is three strands of green baler twine doubled over and plaited tight, the same knot Gran used on the ladder rungs so they would not slip when the wood swelled in wet weather. I have sent you the spare length with this letter, folded in tissue. Keep it somewhere dry. The knot will hold longer than you think, though it does not like being pulled at from the same side twice.

Mr Pryce from the next farm came round on Thursday asking whether you'd be back for the Michaelmas fair. I told him I didn't know, which is true. He said the Ellis boys had gone to the coast and never come home, and then he looked at the bench where Gran's shears still hang and asked whether we had kept her ring, and I said we had, and I didn't say where I had put it.

Anyway, the plaited cord is for you to wear on the hand you use for the ropes, so you'll remember which way the strands go. Write when the boat docks. The apples will keep until you're home.

Love, Ada