The Grapes of Wrath - Chapters 26 - 28

At the start of chapter 26 Ma takes control of the family and decides that they must leave the gov't camp because they only have food left for one more day, and there is no work to be found anywhere near. They leave the next morning without a clear destination. After driving for a while the Joads truck runs over a nail and they must stop to patch the tire. While stopped along the edge of the road a man in a suit stops and tells them they are looking for people to pick peaches about forty miles away at the Hooper Ranch. The Joads are pretty happy that there is finally some work so they decide to go. A little ways outside the ranch they are stopped by a police man and told to follow the cars through. The Joads assume there was some sort of accident or something because there are so many policemen. As they are led through they seem a crowd of people in the ditch yelling at them, but the Joads can't make out what they are saying. When they arrive at the gate of the ranch they are asked how many can pick peaches and are assigned a house. The house they are assigned is not more than a shack but it has a roof and a floor and that is all that Ma wanted. They begin picking peaches that afternoon and make one dollar in store credit which Ma eagerly spends at the store. After supper Tom decides he wants to go see what all the people and police were doing at the entrance of the ranch. He doesn't tell anyone besides Al. He makes his way out of the ranch by slipping under barb wire. He comes up to a tent where a few men are sitting around talking and before he realizes it he is face to face with Casey. Casey tells Tom that they are all on stike because they were promised 5 cents a crate, but when more workers showed up they dropped it to 2.5 cents per crate. As they talk some policemen begin to move in on their little group and oen of them has a board and strikes Casey along side the head and kills him. Tom is also hit, but it only breaks his nose. In anger, Tom picks up another board and swings at the man that killed Casey. After that, Tom has to run, and he makes his way back to the house before he is caught, but he knows that they wil be after him now. In the morning he tells the family what happened and they decide if it is best if he just hides out in the house and pretends to be sick because everyone will know it was him in the fight because of his face.
They pick peaches for a few more days, but they drop the price to 2.5 cents per crate. Also, everyone is on the lookout for Tom, because he killed the policeman, so they decide they should get out while they can. They put Tom between two mattresses and they get out without any problems. Once again they do not know where they are going so they decide to head North on the back roads as to avoud the most cops. After driving for a while they come across a bunch of rail cars and a sign that says "cotton pickers wanted". They pickers stay live in the old cars and pick cotton during the days. They Joads decide to try this, but Tom can't stay with them because his face is still very beat up. He decides then to stay and hide out in the brush not far from the rail cars and Ma will just bring him food and leave it in a culvert everyday. They do this for quite a few days and it is working quite well. Al also meets a girl and they are going to get married.
One day, Ruthie is eating Cracker Jacks that Ma had bought her and she gets in a fight with another girl. She accidentally tells the girl that Tom has already killed two people. Ma gets worried and runs and tells Tom. They decide that it would be best if he takes off and tries to go far away where nobody will look for him.
At the end of the chapter they pick cotton in a a new cotton field about a mile up the road. So many people show up that they can only pick until about noon though. On their way back to their rail car it starts to rain and Rose of Sharon gets the chills. The chapter ends with the rest of the family gathering sticks for a fire in the rain, while Ma tries to keep Rose of Sharon warm.