it we're starting on the fence today？”
Chet taught me how to plumb a line for the pickets； how to hold a hammer down on the end
of the handle instead of choking up on it； how to
calculate an adjusted spacing for the pickets； and how to use a level to get the wood exactly
vertical。 We worked on the fence for days； and the
whole time we worked we talked。 It wasn't just about his wife； either。 He wanted to know
about the sycamore tree and seemed to understand exactly
what I meant when I told about the whole being greater than the sum of its parts。 “It's that
way with people； too；” he said； “only with people it's
sometimes that the whole is less than the sum of the parts。”
……… Page 49………
I thought that was pretty interesting。 And the next day during school I looked around at the
people I'd known since elementary school； trying to
figure out if they were more or less than the sum of their parts。 Chet was right。 A lot of them
were less。
Top of the list； of course； was Shelly Stalls。 To look at her； you'd think she had everything；
but there's not much solid underneath her Mount
Everest hair。 And even though she's like a black hole at sucking people in； it doesn't take
them long to figure out that being friends with her requires
fanning the flames of a wildfire ego。
But of all my classmates； the one person I couldn't seem to place was Bryce。 Unti