“How’s college goin’, Buck?”
“Really tough subjects and hard-nosed professors, but that’s
good. It keeps me out of trouble,” Buddy
answered.
“Kack told me about Mandy and Mitzy. I saw Mandy when she was here, and everybody
knows Mitzy. Two really pretty
girls. Buck, I’m sorry things didn’t
work out with them,” Uncle Charlie said, daubing the broom into the hot tar and
spreading it near the top.
“Yeah, I was crazy about both of them,” Buddy said, positioning
the tar bucket from his precarious perch.
“How about those Purdue college girls? Surely there’s one of those you can cabbage
onto.”
“I’m there to get a degree, not flirt with women, Uncle Charlie.”
“Are you acquainted with any women up there?”
“Well, yes. I’ve been
studying with the only three ladies in my physical chemistry class. They’re really smart.”
“Are they pretty?”
“I know you. You want all the fine details of their looks. Their names are Jenny, Gloria and Nina. Let’s leave it at that.”
“Do you like one more than the other two?” Uncle Charlie asked.
“I like them all. If I
mention one over the others, you’ll keep pumping me for info.”
“No, I won’t.”
“Promise?”
“Yep.”
“Okay. The leader of the
group is Nina. She’s the smartest and
had the say on whether I could join their study group or not. I’d better go get
a fresh bucket of tar. This one’s cooled
off.”
Buddy carefully stepped from the roof ladder to the ground ladder
and made his way slowly down to the ground. His dad had a hot tar bucket ready
near the corn crib. Buddy swapped
buckets with his dad, and headed back to the ladder with the fresh bucket. He scaled the ladder, stepping slowly onto
the roof ladder and Uncle Charlie sunk his broom into the fresh tar and began
smearing. His uncle changed positions of
the ladders while Buddy fetched another bucket of tar.
“What does Nina look like?
Does she have meat on her bones, all in the right places?”
“You promised not to dig for information.”
“Come on, Buck. You’re
dyin’ to talk about her.”
“I’m really confused at this point after Mandy and Mitzy left,
but I think I like Nina. Well, I like
the other two, Jenny and Gloria too,” Buddy said. He carefully moved the tar bucket up a few
rungs on the roof ladder.
“Sounds like Nina is the one you like most. Is she built like a movie star?”
“She’s tall, slender, steel-framed glasses, short red hair and
rarely ever smiles.”
“Ugh, what do you see in her?”
“I look at women differently than you do, Uncle Charlie.”
“True, but what’s important are your feelings and I can tell you
really like her. Let your feelings out,
Buck. Don’t hold them back for this
woman.”
“I don’t think she likes me that well.”
“She let you study with them didn’t she?”
“Yeah, but she wasn’t happy about it,” Buddy said.
The time came for the dreaded work on the high end of the barn.
The ladder leaned almost straight up to reach the roof and even then it came a
few inches short of touching the edge of the roof. Moving slowly and carefully, Buddy and his
uncle managed to reach the dangerous spot.
With the last of the tar applied, Buddy carefully stepped from the roof
ladder onto the ground ladder. As he
hooked the tar bucket to a ladder rung, the ground ladder suddenly tilted away
from the barn. Buddy struggled to make
the ladder lean back toward the barn.
Spotting Buddy’s peril, his uncle thrust his foot out while hanging onto
the roof ladder. Charlie’s foot managed
to snag the top rung of the ladder to keep it from falling away from the
barn. Buddy barely held on when the
ladder jerked to come back to the barn. He looked behind him and wondered how
smashed up he’d been, had Uncle Charlie not prevented his ladder continuing its
outward tilt. The hard ground and
perhaps the closeness of the corn crib would have finished Buddy off.
“You saved me, Uncle Charlie,” Buddy said, his frightening breath
coming in gasps.
“Be careful going down.
I’ll bring the tar bucket. You
just get yourself down.”
They did the other side of the roof without incident since the
slope of the ground made it much easier.
They skipped lunch in order to finish without dropping into the
following day for just a few hours of work.
Buddy’s mom had supper ready for them.
As Buddy and his uncle followed Buddy’s dad to the house, Uncle Charlie
had another comment.
“That girl knows you’re the type guy who isn’t after her body so
I’m betting she will come around.”
“I need to focus on my studies, but I hope you’re right,” Buddy
said, trying to pick dried tar off his fingers.
“Buck, I really like workin’ with you. I think Ham wants your basement made bigger
so you and I may be wading in concrete after you dig it out.”
“That would be a hard job to finish up the summer with,” Buddy
said.
“Yeah, we don’t want you to miss getting back to that girl,” he
said, slapping Buddy on the shoulder, showing his toothless smile.
“Ahh, Uncle Charlie.”
