by Stephen Tuttle

From the roof, where I was cleaning the gutters, I watched the kids raking leaves into large piles. For a while, they jumped into those piles and had a fine time. But then they started yelling for my help, saying that one kid had jumped into a pile but hadn’t come out again. The piles were a couple of feet deep at most, but when I said so, yelling to be heard, the kids repeated that this one kid had gone in and not come out. Trying to be a good sport, I asked how long he’d been in there. A long time, the kids said, way too long. One of the kids said she had been in and out of the biggest pile maybe three times and still no sign of the missing kid. Which pile was it? I said. She pointed but seemed uncertain. All right, I said, here’s what I think. I think maybe this friend of yours is hiding in one of these piles, playing a joke. You should jump into each pile until you find him. They seemed to like this idea and took turns jumping into the piles. This went on for a minute or two before one of the kids shouted up to me that he’d checked every pile, every one, but the missing kid was still missing. I asked if he was sure and he said yes, so I asked if he was really sure, and he just stared at me like was I going to help or not. So, I came down from the roof and gathered all the kids together to inform them that this other kid, this friend of theirs, wasn’t in any of the piles and had probably gone home. A joke, I said again. They all nodded at this like it was a possibility they hadn’t considered. I said, Listen, kids, I have some work to do. I’ll be up on the roof. But as I turned toward the house, toward my ladder, the kids started screaming again. Looking back, I saw that they were pulling a kid from a pile of leaves like a man to a lifeboat. This kid was gasping for breath. Around him, the others made a circle, some of them asking if the kid was okay, others asking how deep he’d gone. As I got closer, I saw that the kid was all red in the face and his eyes weren’t focusing quite right. What is this? I said. What’s happening? But no one seemed to hear me. They were all too busy with questions of their own.