the lane

It was the hot part. Everybody had been going since sunrise and nobody had eaten enough, and Jelly came down from the orchard and said the thing about it not being fair that the bridge lot got the good job, and Huffy said "oh, here we go".

Up it went like dry grass. Both of them loud. Both of them right about something and neither about the same thing. Somebody started taking sides. Somebody put a lantern down harder than a lantern wants to be put down.

So I got in the middle and pulled a face and said something ridiculous about the bridge being haunted, and fell over a bucket on purpose.

It worked. It always works. Huffy made the noise that is nearly a laugh and does not want to be one. Jelly looked at the sky. The dry grass went out.

The row was mine as much as Jelly's and I am not going to pretend otherwise.

It was the hot part of the day. Everyone had been at it for hours and nobody had eaten enough, and Jelly started on about it not being fair that the bridge lot got the good job, and I said oh, here we go, which was not my finest sentence.

Up it went like dry grass. Both of us loud. Both of us right about something, and neither of us about the same thing.

Dinky got in the middle and fell over a bucket on purpose, which stopped it, the way Dinky always stops it.

The row was mine as much as Huffy's and I knew it was going wrong about halfway through, which is the worst possible moment to know.

It was the hot part of the day. I came down for water and said the thing about it not being fair that the bridge lot got the good job, and Huffy said "oh, here we go", and up it went like dry grass.

We were both loud. We were both right about something. Neither of us was right about the same thing, and I could not for the life of me have told you what I was actually angry about, because it certainly was not rope.

Dinky got in the middle and fell over a bucket on purpose, and it stopped, the way Dinky always stops it.

I watched the row at half past twelve go up like dry grass, and I watched Dinky get in the middle and fall over a bucket on purpose, and I watched the dry grass go out.

And then I watched Dinky not walk away.

That is the thing I will remember from that day. Everybody else in that yard saw a joke and a row ending. I was sitting on a wall about fifteen feet away and I could see Dinky's face when Jelly's face did not change — and I saw Dinky decide, and then wait ten seconds in a hot yard for a fluff to say a true thing out loud.

"You could have left it at the bucket," I said afterwards.