“She's … she died？”
He nodded。 “And I miss her terribly。” He tossed a branch into the heap and chuckled。
“There's nothing like a head…strong woman to make you
happy to be alive。”
The last thing in the world I expected was to bee friends with Bryce's grandfather。 But by
dinnertime I knew so much about him and his wife
and the adventures they'd had together that it seemed like I'd known him for a very long time。
Plus； all his stories made the work seem easy。 When I
went in for the night； the bushes were all pruned back； and except for the enormous heap in
the center of the yard； things were already looking a
whole lot better。
The next day he was back。 And when I smiled and said； “Hi； Mr。 Duncan；” he smiled back
and said； “Call me Chet； won't you？” He looked at the
hammer in my hand and said； “I take it we're starting on the fence today？”
Chet taught me how to plumb a line for the pickets； how to hold a hammer down on the end
of the handle instead of choking up on it； how to
calculate an adjusted spacing for the pickets； and how to use a level to get the wood exactly
vertical。 We worked on the fence for days； and the
whole time we worked we talked。 It wasn't just about his wife； either。 He wanted to know
about the sycamore tree and seemed to understand exactly
what I meant when I told about the whole being greater than the sum of its parts。 “It's that
way with people； too；” he said； “only with people it's
sometimes that the whole is less than the sum of the parts。”
……… Page 49………
I thought that was pretty interesting。 And the next day during school I looked around at the
people I'd known since element