Free Me and Mr. Bell by Philip Roy Page A

strange.”
    â€œI have?”
    â€œYou have. It’s not like you to sleep in. Yesterday, you went to school early. Today, you can’t get out of bed. Hurry up and get going.”
    â€œYes, Ma’am. Do you know where Dad is working today?”
    â€œYour father is cutting firewood today. He won’t be back until dark. Hurry up now. I’ve never seen you so slow.”
    â€œYes, Ma’am.” I gobbled up my porridge, grabbed my jacket and boots and went down the hill to the McLeary farm.
    I found Mr. McLeary in his barn, walking behind the cow trough with a pail in his hand. He looked confused to see me there. He frowned with deep lines in his forehead, and his eyebrows went up, then came down, then went up again. “What are you doin’ here?”
    â€œHello, Mr. McLeary. My father wants to know if he can borrow your rope and pulleys for just one day.”
    Mr. McLeary’s eyes opened wide. “My rope and pulleys? Does he? Well, I don’t see why not. I won’t be using my rope and pulleys today. What does he need them for?”
    I didn’t want to tell him why I needed them. “He just needs them for one day. I’ll bring them back tomorrow first thing.”
    He stared at me with his head tilted back, as if he were trying to stand up taller. He was already pretty tall. “I won’t be using them today,” he said. “Are you gonna carry them up the hill by yourself?”
    I nodded my head. “Yes.”
    He started into a room at the front of the barn. I followed him in. “What did you say he needs them for?”
    â€œUh … he needs to make both sides equivalent.” I knew from math that equivalent meant equal.
    â€œHe needs to make … oh, there you go, that’s your father’s fancy way of talkin’. What the heck does that mean?”
    â€œI think it means both sides are supposed to be the same.”
    â€œOh, that’s right. I knew that. Yes, well, one of these days I might have to borrow your father’s rope and pulleys and make both of my sides the same too.”
    â€œOkay.”
    Mr. McLeary handed me a large coil of rope, pulled three pulleys off the wall and dropped them by my feet. I bent down and tried to pick everything up, but it was too heavy and awkward.
    â€œHere! Do it like this.” He lifted the rope over my head so it would hang over one of my shoulders. It was heavy. “Here!” He handed me one pulley laid flat, then put the other two on top of it. “Carry them like that.”
    With my arms stretched all the way down I could just fit the three pulleys in my arms with my chin resting on top of the pile. It was a lot to carry, but at least it was balanced now. “Thank you, Mr. McLeary. I’ll bring it all back tomorrow.”
    He nodded his head. “Tell your father I said hello.”
    â€œI will. Bye.” I went out of the barn and started up the hill. I had to stop three times to rest. Without taking the pulleys out of my arms, I knelt down and rested with my hands on the ground, then got up again. When I reached the farm, I went around the yard and into the barn from the back door. It was so nice to put the pulleys down and peel the rope from around my neck. I took my father’s rope, chains, pulleys and spade and piled everything into the wheelbarrow, then went out the back door and down to the rocky field. It was lucky my father would be away all day.
    When I reached the stone, I saw that the hole I had dug all around it was completely filled in with water. That didn’t surprise me. I went back to the barn for the horses and a bucket. I threw a harness on each horse and led them together out the back of the barn and down to the field. They were happy to come. It wasn’t raining and the air was fresh and cool.
    While the horses watched, I filled the bucket with muddy water dozens of times until the hole was empty. Next came the difficult