Grand Change by William Andrews Read Free Book Online

knitting, moved to the stove and reached for the tea caddy in the warm closet.
    â€œDon’t be getting me any lunch, Ella,” John Cobly said.
    â€œAh, you’ll stay for lunch,” The Boss said.
    â€œYou’ll have to stay for lunch,” Nanny said, pouring water into the teapot.
    â€œWell…Agnes will be wondering, but, ah, I guess she won’t mind. She put up with me this long, I guess she won’t leave me if I don’t get home right away.”
    There was a pause. I could hear Nanny bustling in the cupboard.
    â€œThinking of doing something with the school, Harv?”
    â€œThey’re talking about it. But they’ve been talking about it since I got on the trustee’s board. If they don’t do something soon, the first thing you know the place will be in the cellar.”
    â€œStill talking about a furnace?”
    â€œOnce in a while. Talk about a lot of things. Bill spoke up the other night and said, ‘It’s about time we were thinking about getting running water and a flush toilet. It’s a shame, them little ones freezing their backsides off all the time.’ Clayton jumped in then: ‘I never froze my backside off when I went to school,’ he said. ‘That’s because you probably only went once a week,’ Bill said.”
    â€œHaw, haw, haw,” John Cobly belched out. “They’d be into it then.”
    â€œFor at least half an hour. Would’ve been longer if old Harley hadn’t jumped in: ‘You bucks stop jawing and wasting time. Youse got more jaw than a government mule. We need to get a decent cellar under the place first, then a furnace so they won’t be freezing their backsides off sitting in their seats.’”
    â€œSounds like when I was on the board; like pulling teeth, getting anything done,” John Cobly said.
    Nanny handed out our lunch plates and cups of tea and we took them on our laps and the conversation went on hold for a spell. A blow of wind buffeted the house. The burr of the fire stirred up briefly to fall with the wind.
    John Cobly finally coordinated his tongue around heavy chews on a thick beef sandwich and tea slurps.
    â€œI suppose you’ll be out tricking pretty soon, Jake?”
    â€œI don’t play tricks,” I said.
    â€œCourse not,” The Old Man said.
    â€œThe young beggars turned my outhouse over last year,” John Cobly said.
    â€œI wouldn’t know anything about that,” I said.
    â€œCourse you wouldn’t,” The Old Man said. “Best way to beat them at that is to move the outhouse off the hole. Joe Chase…”
    â€œNever mind, Harvey, were eating our lunch,” Nanny said.
    â€œI mind the time we took to work and hauled Wes Johnston’s light wagon up onto his shed,” John Cobly said. “Must have taken a couple of hours, us whispering and grunting and sweating. Just got it nicely sitting when he shined a flashlight on us. Wasn’t the old beggar watching from the porch all the time! ‘All right, boys; I know youse all, now take her down,’ he said.”
    â€œKind of turned the tables,” The Old Man said.
    â€œTold my old man, too. Kind of hard getting out of cleaning out the pigs after that, among other things.”
    â€œI guess we all had our day,” The Boss said. There was a pause again with finishing lunch and replenishment of tea.
    â€œBy the way, how’s your digger working, Harv?” John Cobly said.
    â€œBetter than a plow,” The Old Man said.
    â€œDid most of the digging yourself with them, all the clawing and scratching,” John Cobly said.
    â€œYes, and the whirligigs send the potatoes halfway across the field,” The Old Man said. “Instead of clawing and scratching, you’re reaching after them.”
    â€œYeah,” John Cobly said. “I would have gotten an elevator if they were any good in wet and sod ground. Anyway, the