didn’t fit together. I also told him he had to build a foundation and I reminded him about insulation. When he gets all that fixed, I’ll show him where to put the nest boxes and the perches.
Bethany, the girl at Poultry Club, talks a lot. All the time, practically. That’s part of how you know she’s not quite right. But Earl is really old and hardly talks at all except to swear. That may be what happens to slow people when they get old. I’m not sure. Slow old people are kind of rare, I think. Him swearing in front of me made Prudence nervous at first. Every time he said a swear, she’d whisper “Earl!” and look atme. But my dad swears all the time so I’m used to it. It’s probably not very good for me though.
Last Sunday I went to church with Bethany and her family. Bethany doesn’t have many friends, and she and her mom have asked me about twenty times whether I wanted to go with them, especially after my dad lost his job and his name was in the paper. I feel kind of sorry for Bethany, so I said yes. It turns out that church was really great. The preacher or minister had an excellent message. It was all about being organized and prepared for the end and how there is evil just about everywhere and you have to guard against it. He also said you have to try hard to get ahead in this world so you can get ahead in the next one, too, by which I think he meant heaven. In that way, church was like Poultry Club. There is a strong emphasis on leadership. I think my parents could benefit from the Lord’s message. I think they might suffer from apathy, which is another thing the minister warned us about.
Bethany’s mom lent me some church literature to read and also this book called
Left Behind
. I’m looking forward to reading it. I read quite a few books, but mostly they are about chickens.
I can’t decide whether going to church is making me more sensitive to swearing or less. Time will tell. Going to church with the Blaines is definitely making me more patient and kindhearted, although my stomach still hurts sometimes.
The truth is that if I didn’t supervise him, I think Earl might try and get away with doing a halfhearted job. As a senior citizen, you’d think he’d try harder. He’s only going to be around for so long and this chicken house may be one of the last chances he has to leave his mark on the world. I said that to him, but before he could thank me Prudence said it was probably time for me to go. She had been in a bad mood ever since she came home and had to put Seth to bed because she said he was feeling under the weather. She went across the street to tell Seth’s mother that he was sick but I guess his mom didn’t care. Prudence came back looking even grumpier.
The next day Seth was feeling better. He just sat on the porch anddidn’t move for almost two hours, except to smoke and check his watch a few times. He had on track pants and a shirt with no sleeves that looked American because it was made of a blue and red and white flag. His arms didn’t have many muscles. When Earl saw him, he swore even more than usual.
Seth looked extremely tired and was a bit yellow, like he might have a disease or something. I thought I should probably be careful around him. I didn’t want to end up getting abused. Guys who sit around and don’t have jobs are more likely to be pedophiles. I saw that on one of those TV shows that comes on after eleven.
But to tell the truth, I kind of liked him. I think it was because when I talked he paid attention really hard, like he thought I might be interesting or worth listening to. Not many people listen to people who are eleven. I liked it when he sat outside and typed on his computer, which is quite big considering it’s a laptop, or even when he just sat outside doing nothing.
My birds were moving to Woefield in two days and I could hardly wait. If Bethany didn’t talk so much I’d have invited her, but I didn’t want her bothering my birds.
S ETH
I
Bethany, the girl at Poultry Club, talks a lot. All the time, practically. That’s part of how you know she’s not quite right. But Earl is really old and hardly talks at all except to swear. That may be what happens to slow people when they get old. I’m not sure. Slow old people are kind of rare, I think. Him swearing in front of me made Prudence nervous at first. Every time he said a swear, she’d whisper “Earl!” and look atme. But my dad swears all the time so I’m used to it. It’s probably not very good for me though.
Last Sunday I went to church with Bethany and her family. Bethany doesn’t have many friends, and she and her mom have asked me about twenty times whether I wanted to go with them, especially after my dad lost his job and his name was in the paper. I feel kind of sorry for Bethany, so I said yes. It turns out that church was really great. The preacher or minister had an excellent message. It was all about being organized and prepared for the end and how there is evil just about everywhere and you have to guard against it. He also said you have to try hard to get ahead in this world so you can get ahead in the next one, too, by which I think he meant heaven. In that way, church was like Poultry Club. There is a strong emphasis on leadership. I think my parents could benefit from the Lord’s message. I think they might suffer from apathy, which is another thing the minister warned us about.
Bethany’s mom lent me some church literature to read and also this book called
Left Behind
. I’m looking forward to reading it. I read quite a few books, but mostly they are about chickens.
I can’t decide whether going to church is making me more sensitive to swearing or less. Time will tell. Going to church with the Blaines is definitely making me more patient and kindhearted, although my stomach still hurts sometimes.
The truth is that if I didn’t supervise him, I think Earl might try and get away with doing a halfhearted job. As a senior citizen, you’d think he’d try harder. He’s only going to be around for so long and this chicken house may be one of the last chances he has to leave his mark on the world. I said that to him, but before he could thank me Prudence said it was probably time for me to go. She had been in a bad mood ever since she came home and had to put Seth to bed because she said he was feeling under the weather. She went across the street to tell Seth’s mother that he was sick but I guess his mom didn’t care. Prudence came back looking even grumpier.
The next day Seth was feeling better. He just sat on the porch anddidn’t move for almost two hours, except to smoke and check his watch a few times. He had on track pants and a shirt with no sleeves that looked American because it was made of a blue and red and white flag. His arms didn’t have many muscles. When Earl saw him, he swore even more than usual.
Seth looked extremely tired and was a bit yellow, like he might have a disease or something. I thought I should probably be careful around him. I didn’t want to end up getting abused. Guys who sit around and don’t have jobs are more likely to be pedophiles. I saw that on one of those TV shows that comes on after eleven.
But to tell the truth, I kind of liked him. I think it was because when I talked he paid attention really hard, like he thought I might be interesting or worth listening to. Not many people listen to people who are eleven. I liked it when he sat outside and typed on his computer, which is quite big considering it’s a laptop, or even when he just sat outside doing nothing.
My birds were moving to Woefield in two days and I could hardly wait. If Bethany didn’t talk so much I’d have invited her, but I didn’t want her bothering my birds.
S ETH
I
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