Rooftops

"Come on up. The weather's great here," said Matt, the 30-year-old roofer. He smiled at me, his face partially hidden by his Red Wings baseball cap.

I swallowed my doubts and climbed up.

The roof was strange. It had lots of angles, lots of levels. It was a challenge for anyone. And I figured if I could work on this roof, I could work on any roof. There were many different pitches to get used to, and the many changing parts of the roof could get confusing, and plain scary, if you weren't careful. There were twin chimneys-one on each side. Matt was standing right where one of the triangles pointed up. I had to get used to walking up the incline. It seemed strange at first. But once I got used to the feeling, I was fine-well, almost.

The slant of the roof made me extra careful, which I think the guys on the ground must have mistook for fear, because they began teasing me even more. This made me feel self-conscious, as if they thought I wasn't going to be able to do this work. Of course, my resolve hardened, and I worked the whole weekend, and more, on the roof. Matt liked to teach, and I liked to learn.

And after a while, we made a good team, until the work seemed easy enough to do.

The guys teased Matt about it, calling me his roofer girl and laughing about it. I think it marred his macho look, at least in their eyes. And they wanted him to know it. He didn't say much, but I felt his frustration.