Brave Roof Climber

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I will never forget the evening of the rooftop--the evening I was christened "brave roof climber."

For some time my older, more adventurous sister had been begging Father to let us go to the roof. He would not even be bothered by helping us to erect a ladder--the juniper tree next to the house would suffice! It was positioned at such a tempting angle, with its long, inviting branches just scraping the top of the roof. One particular evening Father said that we could go; this, much to Mother's chagrin! She had her motherly concerns to be dealt with; perhaps we would get scratched by the branches or fall off the roof; or, even worse, miss a branch entirely and have a very dramatic, Pollyanna-esque scene. And then, there were the shingle granules to be dealt with-- blast those wretched granules! Mother would admonish us to not let any of the granules come off of the new roof--maybe we should just forget about the whole thing and stay on solid ground.

Luckily, fathers always keep a memento of youth and adventure in their pocket and are more sympathetic to amateur juniper-tree -climbers at night.

I never would have been able to do it without Adrienne. Adrienne, what a girl! She always got into the most scrapes of any of we four girls. She was always insistent to tread "the path not taken". Even if that path led to scrapes and bruises, scolding and reproofs, gashes and rips in her clothes (that were then never handed down to me), ridicule and laughter, or come what may! She had her mark yet to make in this world. She would be a fashion designer, a novelist and poet, an explorer of the Australian outback, a gourmet chef! She always thought of putting the strangest combinations together! She used to dunk her animal crackers in red "Kool-aid," and try to convince me that the mixture of soap with one's toothpaste was the surest way for a brilliant "Colgate" smile. I believed her. Sometimes I wonder what that says about the kind of kid I was. However, she was my big sister, and I looked up to her.

I didn't always agree with her though! For example, I would never plough through into the great unknown of beyond without thinking of the consequences! In any pair, surely there must be the cool-headed, sensible one who tries desperately to keep the other in line.

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