When I was 14, I earned money in the summer by mowing lawns, and I got to know people by the flowers I had to remember not to cut down, by the things stuck in the ground on purpose or by the things lost in the grass. I also learned something about my neighbors in Louisville, Ky., by their preferred method of payment: by the job, the month ——or not at all.
Mr Ballou fell into the last category, and he always had a reason. One day he had nothing smaller than a fifty. On another he was flat-out of checks; on another he was simply not home when I knocked on his door. Still, except for the money, he was a nice enough old guy, always waving or tipping his hat when he'd seen me from a distance. I figured him for a thin retirement check, maybe an injury that kept him from doing his own yardwork. I kept a running total, but didn't worry about the amount too much. Grass was grass, and the little that was Mr Ballou's didn't take long to trim.
When I was 14, I earned money in the summer by mowing lawns, and I got to know people by the flowers I had to remember not to cut down, by the things stuck in the ground on purpose or by the things lost in the grass. I also learned something about my neighbors in Louisville, Ky., by their preferred method of payment: by the job, the month ——or not at all.
Mr Ballou fell into the last category, and he always had a reason. One day he had nothing smaller than a fifty. On another he was flat-out of checks; on another he was simply not home when I knocked on his door. Still, except for the money, he was a nice enough old guy, always waving or tipping his hat when he'd seen me from a distance. I figured him for a thin retirement check, maybe an injury that kept him from doing his own yardwork. I kept a running total, but didn't worry about the amount too much. Grass was grass, and the little that was Mr Ballou's didn't take long to trim.
การแปล กรุณารอสักครู่..
