Read Online One Fat Summer by Robert Lipsyte - Free Book Online Page A

look around, you’ll find things.”
    The porch was easy, and so were the garbage pails, but the gutters scared me. I hate to climb ladders, and the gutters, long wooden troughs that catch the rainwater running off the roof, were pretty high. I found a ladder in the shed, a long wooden one with round rungs, and set it against the house. I started feeling shaky on thethird rung, but as long as I didn’t look down I was all right. The gutters weren’t really clogged, just a few leaves and acorns and junk the rain had washed off the roof. I had forgotten to bring a bag up, so I stuffed it all in my pockets. There seemed to be more room than usual in my pockets.
    â€œWhat’s this ladder doing here, Jim?” It was one of the Smith boys.
    â€œLet’s put it away,” said Jim. He started to shake the ladder.
    â€œHey, I’m up here,” I shouted.
    â€œYou hear that, Jim?”
    â€œHear what?”
    â€œThat sound.”
    â€œLet go of the ladder,” I yelled.
    â€œThere it is again.” They were really shaking the ladder now.
    â€œCut it out.” I nearly lost my balance and grabbed the gutters.
    â€œOkay, Jim, one, two, three, heave.”
    The ladder was moving out from under me. I grabbed for the roof. My knees hit the gutter. There was a cracking sound as the gutter broke loose from the edge of the roof. But I scrambledup on the roof just in time. The ladder toppled slowly over, crushing a few flowers.
    â€œLet’s just leave it there, Jim. I feel like walking around that nice clean pool again.”
    It was pleasant up on the roof. A good view of Rumson Lake sparkling in the afternoon sun and the low green foothills beyond. I could see meadows and farmhouses and the tiny brown and black dots that were grazing cows and horses. Dr. Kahn’s place looked beautiful from the roof. My lawn was velvety green, me hedges thick and neat. After a while I heard me clatter of tools being tossed into the back of the pickup, then I saw the green truck roll down the driveway. I thought a long tan arm sticking out of the passenger window waved to me.
    If I didn’t have to worry about getting down, I really wouldn’t have minded being up on the roof. The sun felt good, and the roof wasn’t so steep I had to worry about rolling off. I lay on my back and watched a chicken hawk glide and roll in the sky. That’s freedom, flying.
    â€œAre you sleeping on the job?”
    â€œThe ladder fell down, Dr. Kahn.”
    â€œRight on me geraniums.” He set the ladderagainst the house. “Come on, come on, slow-poke, time’s money.”
    Less than a penny a minute, you old miser. I can afford to spend an extra thirty seconds coming down the ladder so I don’t fall and crack my skull.
    â€œHow did you manage this little trick?” I’d forgotten how black and deep his eyes could get.
    â€œThe ladder fell.”
    He shook his head. “I will not reward clumsiness. You will be docked for the time you were sunbathing on the roof. How long were you up there? A half hour?”
    â€œDr. Kahn, it wasn’t my fault.” That came out before I had a chance to stop it.
    â€œI don’t like a boy who makes excuses.”
    â€œIt’s the truth. Those Smith boys knocked over the ladder. While I was on it. I had to jump on the roof.”
    â€œWhy would they do that?”
    â€œI don’t know.” I couldn’t tell him that I thought it was because they were friends of Willie Rumson, the boy he didn’t hire. “I guess it was their idea of a practical joke.”
    â€œThat’s not my idea of humor at all, damage agutter, ruin flowers, waste time. This time I won’t hold you responsible.” He walked away.
    I finished the gutters and put away the ladder and mopped the new black footprints on the tile pool deck. By that time it was a few minutes after three o’clock. I knocked on the front