Genevieve; the Third of January by Edward Drobinski - HTML preview

Chapter 5

She briskly walked to Willy’s house and went to the front door. As she was ready to knock she was greeted by a pile of snow falling on her head and all over her coat.

Genevieve momentarily forgot that she was a lady and in an explosion suitable for auditorium use barked; “What in the &^#8

$? !&)# {#+^!”

Snow covered Genevieve property of the author.

She then heard; “Whoops. .......... Are you all right?”

Genevieve looked up at the direction the voice was coming from and saw Willy on his roof. She said; “Do I look all right to you? What on earth are you doing up there?”

“Sweeping the snow off my roof. These things aren’t made to take this much weight.”

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“ ......................... “

“Are you sure that you’re all right?”

“Would you please stop asking me that? ......... Why don’t you watch what you’re doing?”

Willy sighed heavily. He was tempted to say something about unannounced visitors, but thought better of it. Instead he said;

“My deepest of apologies. Good to see you, Genevieve. What brings you here?”

Willy on his roof; property of the author.

Genevieve mumbled; “A collapsed roof.” She shook as if she had some sort of tremor to get the bulk of the snow off.

“Are you all right?”

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“Yes, I am #(%?)!+ fine. Okay? Just trying to get this

*@^^)?> snow off of me. ....... Are you all right?”

“Apparently better than you. So, my dear friend Genevieve, your roof has collapsed? You really should have swept the snow off of it.”

“No, not mine. Tardiff and Lenta’s. .......... Well, it’s not really a ‘collapse.’ It’s more like a little hole over the front door. ................ And I kind of volunteered you to fix it.”

“Well, my good lady. Roofs are made of differing materials, with differing methods of construction. The builders may have used wooden rafters or trusses fastened together with metal connecting plates. And the covering material or materials range widely from .............. “

“All right. All right. It takes Einstein to fix it. I know.

Would you just please come with me to Tardiff and Lenta’s.

They’re very upset.”

Willy said; “Fine. Why didn’t you just say so to begin with. Let me get some more of the snow off my roof and I’ll be right with you.”

Genevieve stepped back a few feet just in case.

As he swept, Willy called out; “It’s a shame that you can’t see the view I do. The snow covered Denials are quite a sight over the partially frozen Boggy Cleave.”

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Willy’s rooftop view; the kind courtesy of Pexels,com under their CC0 license; modified.

Genevieve half teased with an in-joke when she replied;

“The only climbing these little legs do are in my dreams.”

Willy said; “Then I’ll have to do your roof too.” He swept until most of the snow was on the ground. He took his ladder and broom with him and they walked to Tardiff and Lenta’s.

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