Where I'd Like to Be by Frances O'Roark Dowell Read Free Book Online

got on hand at the moment.”
    We crowded in through the door to the office and then squeezed out through the door to the garage. Snaking through the maze of tires and hubcaps and rusting car batteries, we followed Mr. Potter out a back door and found ourselves in a kind of backyard, a fenced-in square of hardpan dirt with clumps of onion grass struggling to grow around its edges. Here we were greeted by an oddball collection of open-mouthed ranges and refrigerators that had clearly seen their heyday many years before, not to mention washers and dryers and a chorus line of vacuum cleaners. At the far end of the yard, cinder blocks two and three deep kept different lengths of sawed lumber off of the ground.
    “Who’s the main architect here?” Mr. Potter asked us. “Any y’all know something about building a structure?”
    Logan stepped forward. “I know a little bit,” he said, sounding sure of himself.
    “Good, good,” Mr. Potter said. “Now, any of y’all any good at math?”
    This time Murphy stepped forward. “I’m in the advanced math group at school,” she told him. I waited for her to say something about building an adobe hut in New Mexico, but she didn’t mention it.
    “Good, that’s what I like to hear,” Mr. Potter replied, sounding even more enthusiastic. “You done any geometry yet?”
    Murphy nodded. “A little. At my old school.”
    “Well, then, you two come over this way and let’s discuss what you children will need.” He turned to Donita. “Baby, you take the rest of them and fill five or six coffee cans with nails. Be sure to get a variety of sizes.”
    Ricky Ray nudged me. “Maddie, I ain’t got no money. How’re we going to pay?”
    I shrugged, looking at Mr. Potter, who smiled. “Y’all don’t have to pay for it. I like to help out my little niece when I can.”
    “We could barter for it,” Murphy said. “NotDonita, since she’s your niece, but the rest of us. I mean, we might need a lot of supplies. I don’t want to take advantage.”
    Mr. Potter smiled again. You could tell he liked Murphy. “You might be on to something there, missy. I could use me a few hours of help around here. I appreciate that you want to be square on your debt. That’s a good habit to have.”
    Logan Parrish opened his mouth, but before he could say a word, I cut him off. “Don’t even offer to pay for this, Logan. We’ve already worked out a real good deal.”
    “I wasn’t going to offer to pay for it,” he stammered. “I was just going to say that I could come by on Wednesday afternoons after school, if he needed help then.”
    I felt my face go red. “Oh,” was all I managed to say in reply.
    “Go get those nails, children,” Mr. Potter said, saving me from further disgrace. “We’ll work out a schedule later.”
    It took the good part of an hour for Mr. Potter, Murphy, and Logan to figure out whatlengths of board we’d need for building. They also had a long discussion about techniques for making a fort stand up straight and last through a windy season.
    After helping Donita fill two coffee cans with nails, I roamed around the appliances and dreamed of the kitchen I’d have in my own house one day. I wanted one of those kitchens that had a big wooden block in the middle, for your husband to chop up vegetables on while you were cooking dinner.
    “So how are we going to get all this stuff to my backyard?” Logan asked, after he and Murphy and Mr. Potter had picked out what appeared to be enough lumber to build at least three forts and set it aside in a special pile. It was, I hated to admit, a sensible question.
    “We can haul it in my truck,” Mr. Potter said. “You and your daddy can help me unload it, get it to wherever it needs to go.”
    Logan nodded. “Sure, that’d be great. My dad’s probably not home, but I’m pretty strong. Do you want to do it now or wait until you’re ready to close up?”
    Mr. Potter smiled. “There is one main reason I went into