1At Home with Old DadOld Dad, I said, if I didnt go to school, I could help you every day. Old Dad didnt say anything. You listening? I said, if I didnt go to school He put down his coffee cup. Heard you, he growled. His voice was always rough, growly, as if he had thorns in his throat. Youre going to school, Joyce. Give me one good reason! I hated school. It was starting again in four days. Why do I have to go? All summer Id been happy with Old Dad. Same reason I told you last year, and year before, and year before that, he said. You learn everything you can, Joyce. You go there and learn. He took his keys from the nail by the door. You coming? We walked on our private road through the field, down the hill, and through the woods. People thought, because we ran the dump and lived near it, that we lived in it. We couldnt even see it from our house! It was a cool sunny day, and the wind sounded nice in the trees. Saturday was our busiest day. When we got to the dump, Old Dad opened up the work shack, and I ran on down the road to unlock the chain. Oak and pine trees lined both sides of the road. All summer wildflowers grew along the edge of the roadblue sailor, daisies, king devil, and bugloss. Now fall was coming, and there were goldenrod and asters. I knew everything about our road. I knew the animals that lived near itred squirrels, woodchucks, chipmunks, raccoons, and a skunk family. Once when there was snow on the ground, I found a big orange-and-black butterfly frozen into a rut. I took it home and warmed it up. It came back to life and I let it go. Old Dad said it was a monarch, and it would go to Mexico for the winter. It wasnt even seven oclock yet, our opening time, but already people had dumped big plastic bags of garbage outside the chain. Some people left their garbage there even when we were open. Couldnt they read the signs? There were two of them tacked to a tree, where everybody could see them. The first was red metal with printed white letters. Old Dad said it was official.QUEENSHIP TOWN RESOURCERECOVERY CENTERHours 7:00 a.m.5:00 p.m.MondaySaturday. Closed Sunday. Under that was Old Dads own sign. He had printed on cardboard with a black marking pen.RULES: NO LEAVING GARBAGEAT GATE. DONT PUT FOODGARBAGE WITH OTHER STUFF.DRIVE SLOW INTO DUMP.THIS MEANS YOU! I walked back up the road, whistling. A car went rattling past. I heard Old Dad working on the dozer. At the dump, first you saw a big open sandy place that almost looked like a beach. No flies, no smell, hardly any garbage around. Old Dad took care of things. Now they all talk about recycling, he said. I was doing it twenty years ago, before they even knew the word. Food garbagemeat bones, eggshells, banana peels, rotten tomatoeswent in the ravine in back of the dump. Every day Old Dad buried it under fresh earth. The bacteria in the soil worked on it and broke it down, and pretty soon it wasnt garbage anymore. It was nice, beautiful, rich

---

Excerpted from Crazy Fish by Norma Fox Mazer
All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.