He approaches the back door, looking out of habit for the small patch of basil and mint Betty used to plant to the side of the steps. He was always amazed at the rapid growth of those herbs, daring the weather, tempting the family. They are gone, given over to dandelion and yarrow. The promising spears of tiger lilies that had never bloomed and now never would. The door is missing and the frame parallelogrammed when the walls shifted. Simon enters and stops to map the best route for his safety and the tension of the cable. The kitchen, dining nook, and basement stairs have been filled with the broken tumble of the roof. Splintered trusses and two-by-fours, shingles, ceiling tile, drywall, and patches of dust-darkened Fiberglas insulation that Simon bought himself and installed, are strewn everywhere. Strange, that the puffy batts he laid in 1970 have lasted longer than the family. Did Irma even know that Betty had moved or that Simon was out of jail, had been for a year? Did she know that the insulation was gone? The pink rolls that made Irma sneeze while she held the trouble light for Simon, the light jerking with each sniff, Simon gasping at her to hold it steady while he tore at the batts with a utility knife—did she know that it was gone now?

Simon steps gingerly on the corner angle of a broken truss and slides his hand along the interior wall. He knows the crew is around the Cat smoking. Smoking and watching. He doesn’t look back. The ceilings are eight feet high, so he needs one more solid step to reach the top of the wall. He puts his foot on a section of roof, liking the grip of his boots on the textured asphalt, the familiar catch, the hold and heft of construction surfaces. It wobbles but should be enough. He knows that if he falls it won’t be fatal, just painful, pierced by nails and splinters, gashed by the newly ripped edges of stamped aluminum flashing.

He transfers his weight and the section begins to settle, the sound of wood breaking underneath. He takes it quickly, springs to a section of the stairs and gains the top of the inside wall with one foot. It is steady and without pausing he catwalks it to the front of the house. He puts his left hand on the exposed slope of the roof and vaults up and walks to the cap. Faussed in less than thirty seconds.