I didn’t like what she had done, but I knew she had tried to be friends with me—coming to dinner and to the style show and giving us that wonderful first acting lesson. I thought I owed her something for that. I needed Dad to help me with my plan, so I decided to go out and visit him on his job. I often did that when I was on vacation from school. The big gravel pit where he loaded the trucks with his crane was only a mile from town, and I would ride my bike out and take him some special treat to add to his lunch. He would let me climb up in the cab of the crane with him and let me work the levers, and we would talk and then eat together. He always pretended that I was kind of in the way, but I think he liked having me come out and visit him. I gave him a super-loud whistle through my teeth as I pulled up on my bike, and he waved at me from the machine. He put the big engine into neutral so he could shout down to me from the cab. “What are you up to?” he asked. “Brought you some cold lemonade and some chocolate cake for an afternoon snack.
