Is that girl working you too hard?
That girl's name is Juli. And, no, she isn't working me too hard.
You've developed quite a soft spot for her, huh?
Steven.
No, Patsy. Just wanna find out why your father has the energy to befriend a complete stranger
when he won't throw a baseball around with his own grandson.
It's okay, dad.
No, it's not okay.
Juli reminds him of grandma.
Of Renee? Heh. That's ridiculous.
You know why the Bakers haven't fixed their yard until now?
Yeah, because he's too busy with his paint-by-numbers kit.
If you had a brother with a severe handicap, what would you do?
What the hell does that have to do with anything?
Juli's father has a retarded brother.
So what? He's not the fardener, is he? Heh.
Steven.
It was a joke. You know, other people have family troubles and they manage to mow their own
lawns. I don't know where their pride in ownership is.
They don't won that house. The landlord's supposed to maintain it. Mr.Baker puts every extra
penny he has into caring for his brother.
Don't they have government facilities for that sort of thing?
Maybe they thought that a private facility would be better for him.
Either way, it's not our fault that their family has some chromosomal abnormality.
It has nothing to do with chromosomes. When Juli's uncle was born, he had the umbilical cord
wrapped around his neck. If he'd had enough oxygen, he would've been a perfect little baby,
just like your son.
Goddamn it, Chet.
Patsy? Pasty?
Leave me alone!
Sorry about that.
Why is mom so upset?
Because but for the grace of God, your mother could be standing in Mr.Baker's shoes.
Did her brother have the cord wrapped around his neck too?
You did. Luckily, the doctor who delivered you was on the ball and got it untangled but it
easily could've gone the other way.
Wanna go for a walk?
Huh?
I find it helps clear the mind.
What would they have done with me?
You can't dwell on something that might've been, Bryce.
You mean, with the way my dad was talking, sounds like he would've thrown me in a nuthouse or
something.
No, no. Now, that's not fair. You can't condemn him for something he hasn't done.
This is where that tree was, wasn't it?
Yeah.
Must've been a spectacular view. She's quite a girl. Some of us get dipped in flat, some in
stain, some in gloss. But every once in a while, you find someone who's iridescent. And when
you do, nothing will ever compare.
Flat, glossy, iridescent? What the hell did that mean? Juli Baker had always just seemed plain
to me. Until now. And the way she talked about what it felt like to be up in that tree, to be
held above the earth, brushed by the wind. Who in junior high talks like that? This weird
feeling started taling over in the pit of my stomach, and I didn't like it. I was slipping, man.
And it was time to get a grip.
I'd never been embarrassed by where we lived before. I also never really thought about money. I
knew we weren't rich, but I didn't feel like we were missing anything. That is, until Bryce Loski
called our home a complete mess.
What's your name?
Is it Mary or Sue?
What's your name?
Do I stand a chance woth you?
It's so hard to find a personality with charms like yours for me.
I had to do something and I knew what it was.
What's your name?
Oh, you're sounding really good.
We'll record it in Skyler's garage this weekend.
That's a wonderful [roject.
Speaking of projects, I was thinking it might be cool to fix up the yard.
What?
I mean, how much can grass seed cost? I could plant a lawn, maybbe some flowers. I could even put
up a fence.
Honey, that's a major undertaking.
I could pay for it with my egg money.
No. That's your money. The landlord should be the one taking care of all this.
But he doesn't. And we live here.
And it looks so bad.
Jules. What's going on?
Nothing, dad.
It's okay, sweetheart. You can tell us.
The Loskis have been throwing away my eggs because they're afraid of salmonella. Because our yard
is such a mess.