The Fence with the Tall Middle Post

Chapter 1Above the String

The new garden fence was going to be short.

It would keep the football from rolling onto the flower beds, not keep anyone out of the yard.

Totty had put five wooden posts in place. He would fasten the rails after checking the line.

A red string ran between the end posts.

Boruch had helped carry the light measuring stick. Now he crouched behind the string and looked along it.

"The middle one is taller," he said.

The top of the third post rose above the string.

The second was lower. The fourth nearly met it.

"We should push the tall one down."

Totty set his hammer on the workbench.

Chapter 2A Straight Line

The string looked straight from one end to the other.

Boruch had seen builders use strings. He was sure the middle post was wrong.

Totty asked him to measure how much each post stood above the ground.

Boruch put the measuring stick beside the first post.

Then the second.

Then the third.

Each showed the same mark.

He checked the third again.

Its top still stood higher than the red string, but the measuring stick gave the same answer.

"The stick is not changing," Boruch said.

"What else could change?" Totty asked.

Boruch looked at the ground instead of the post tops.

Chapter 3The Small Hill

The garden bed rose gently in the middle.

From the gate, it had looked flat. From the side, Boruch could see the shallow hump beneath the third post.

The posts stood the same distance above the soil, but the soil was not at the same height.

Boruch followed the red string with his eyes.

It joined the first and last tops in a straight line. It did not follow the hump between them.

"If we push the middle one down," he said, "less of it will be above the garden."

Totty nodded.

Boruch held the stick near the top of the hump.

"So the string is right and the posts are right?"

"They show different things," Totty said. "Now we have to decide how the fence should look."

Chapter 4Two Rail Lines

Totty laid a loose rail across two low supports away from the posts.

He lifted one end a little.

A long rail could slope with the garden. A set of shorter rails could step upward and then downward.

Boruch pictured a football meeting the fence.

"Would a gap underneath let the ball through?"

They put the football against the ground near the middle post. Totty held the loose rail at two possible heights while Boruch watched from beside the garden path.

The first position left too much space beneath one end.

The second would stop the ball.

Boruch pointed to it.

"That one does the job."

Totty put the loose rail back on the supports.

Chapter 5Pencil Marks

They chose two sloping sections, meeting at the middle post.

Totty moved the string to show each section separately. Boruch used the measuring stick to help check the space underneath.

Before anything was fastened, Totty made pencil marks on the posts.

Boruch checked each mark from the path.

The rails would rise toward the small hill and then fall toward the gate. There would be no large hole for the football.

Totty cut and fastened the wood. Boruch stayed at the far end of the path while the tools were in use.

When Totty had cleared the tools and scraps, he called him back.

The red string was wound around its reel.

Chapter 6A Low Kick

Boruch rolled the football toward the flower bed.

It touched the lower rail and stopped.

He tried from beside the gate. It stopped there too.

Then he gave it a gentle kick along the ground.

The ball struck the fence and came back to his shoes.

"It works," he said.

Totty leaned on the gatepost.

"No high kicks here. A short fence is still a short fence."

Boruch looked at the middle post, the one he had wanted to push down.

It still stood highest.

Two rails met beneath its top. The hill no longer looked like a mistake.

Boruch carried the football to the open yard.