IsWas by Jenny Sampirisi

IsWas by Jenny Sampirisi

Author:Jenny Sampirisi [Sampirisi, Jenny]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Insomniac Press
Published: 2008-04-15T00:00:00+00:00


No. 11

Shouldn’t we make a ladder up the tree first? Andrew asks, standing over his father. There’s a case of beer next to the toolbox, already open. Roland doesn’t look up.

Pass me the bag of nails, Roland says, his voice steadier than it was earlier, in Andrew’s room.

Andrew doesn’t move. How are we going to get the frame up the tree without a ladder there first?

Roland stands and walks to the mound of supplies a few feet away, returning a moment later with the bag of nails. He drops them at Andrew’s feet. We use our own ladder until we get the frame up. We don’t know where the door is going to be yet. Roland says the words evenly. This is just a detail. Andrew steps back then forward, not sure what to do with his body. Roland offers Andrew a beer.

It’s eight-thirty in the morning. Andrew is leaning

into the words for Roland’s sake, but for a moment he

worries he’ll throw up.

We’re building. Roland shrugs, and opens the bottle for himself.

It’s cold like Andrew thought it would be and he wants to work. Okay, he says, but if we’re going to make the frame first, we should make it in the tree. If we make it on the ground, the dimensions will be wrong. You think the space between the trunks is going to be an exact rectangle or square? Nope. And how do we get it up there? So why don’t we start in the tree? Andrew has picked up a piece of two-by-four and is rifling through the toolbox for another hammer.

Roland takes a long sip and says, Here. Andrew looks up from the toolbox. Roland is sitting down on the grass with the hammer outstretched. What? Andrew says. He keeps his hands hidden in the toolbox.

Take it. You show me how it’s done.

Roland’s lip is curled at one side to a half smile. Andrew doesn’t move for the hammer. He waits.

What? Roland scoffs, You don’t want it now? Take it. You know all about building. So build.

Roland drops the hammer on the ground. Hammer away, Roland half whispers, half laughs. He repeats the word, Hammer, once more before moving to the toolbox.



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