The Absolute Value of Mike Read Online Free PDF

almost slipped out from under me. I skidded on something, or lots of somethings. I grabbed a workbench to stay upright.
    When I looked down, I saw that the floor was covered with nails. All different sized nails. Black ones, shiny ones, large ones, small ones. It was a sea of nails. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I saw the rest of the mess that Moo had mentioned. Saws and files and hammers were spread out on surfaces like they’d been thrown there. Chunks of wood were strewn everywhere. If the walls hadn’t been standing, I would’ve thought a hurricane had blown through.
    There were great power tools, though: Delta Unisaw, Powermatic lathe, DeWalt drill press. Man, you could make anything in here! Against the far wall I noticed he had a ton of boards, sorted by type. Maple. Walnut. Cherry. Maybe he was trying out different woods for the artesian screw to see which one performed best. How did you make an artesian screw, anyway?
    I stumbled over the nails on the floor to get to the radial arm saw and brushed off some of the sawdust. It was my favorite tool. With a radial arm saw you could take a plank of wood and make it into a simple bookshelf. That was the project I got an A on. Mr. Barron, my shop teacher, even put it on display in the school lobby. Sasha asked what my dad thought of it. “Are you kidding?” I asked him. “Dad doesn’t know about this. It’s too . . . vocational. ”
    I took a piece of the maple and laid it on the table just to slice the very edge off, just to see how the saw worked, just to feel the wood and the power in my hands. It was still kind of dark but the big red button was obvious. I reached up, took a deep breath, and pressed it on.
    Nothing happened. I felt my shoulders slump. Then I remembered Mr. Barron saying to always unplug power tools when not in use. I felt behind the saw and found the cord, following it all the way to the wall. Where it was plugged in. Shoot! I finally found the light switches and flicked them up and down. I stood in darkness. Nothing in this place worked!
    I stormed back to the kitchen. “Where’s the circuit breaker?”
    â€œWhat, dear?”
    â€œThe garage is completely dead!”
    She held up her forefinger in front of her mouth to quiet me down, and whispered, “Workshop, dear. Poppy doesn’t like it when people say garage. We don’t want to upset Poppy.”
    I didn’t care if Poppy was upset or not. “I need to turn the electricity back on.”
    â€œOh,” she said. “That. I—I didn’t pay the electric bill.” She pulled her hoodie strings and sniffled like she was going to cry.
    Okay, that was a problem. “Look, I can set up electronic payments for you.” Then I remembered they had no computer. “Or I can write the checks and you can sign them. I take care of the bills at home. We’d never have power if it were up to Dad. He always forgets.”
    â€œI didn’t forget,” she said quietly. “Mike, would you check the mailbox?”
    â€œOkay.” Sure, whatever it took to get this show on the road. I walked the obstacle course of water buckets in the front yard to the Harley-Davidson mailbox.
    There was a Love Connection dating survey, a flyer from a local shoe store, and two envelopes stamped Past Due from Penn Telecom and Allegheny Power.
    I walked slowly up the steps to Moo, who was standing at the front door, tugging her HOLY COMFORTER hoodie around her. “Are the Social Security checks there? They both should’ve come yesterday.”
    I shook my head and handed her the pile. I knew what Past Due meant. We’d gotten enough of those before I set up electronic payments for Dad.
    She took the mail and walked into the kitchen.
    I was slowly starting to figure it out. Collecting water in buckets in the front yard? Running out of gas? Watching imaginary movies in Tyrone? Why hadn’t Dad told me they were poor?