Turn 178 of 233

Lift Kimo onto your shoulders and walk the pad with him — let him see the site from up high. He loves it

Lena stands from the stud and the standing is 730 pounds rising and the rising is the thing the pad feels. Kimo is at the table, chocolate on his chest and fingers, and he looks up at her because looking up is what he does when she moves. She reaches for him and the reaching is the thing her arms do — the arms that pressed 630 this morning, the arms that have carried him since the first day on the balcony. She lifts him the way she lifts a stud, one hand under his arms, and she sets him on her shoulders. The setting is 135 pounds on the shelf of muscle and fat that her traps and shoulders have built and the built is the thing that holds him the way the rack holds the bar. His legs dangle against her chest and the dangling is the thing that says he is high and the high is the thing he has never been.

Kimo is quiet for one second. The second is the thing that is the taking in. He is six feet above the pad and the six feet is the thing that changes what he sees. The pad is the thing he walks on and the walking is the thing from the ground. From up here the pad is a thing below him and the below is the thing that is new. He can see the tops of the studs and the tops are the things he has only seen from below. He can see Walt's head and Walt is bald and the bald is the thing Kimo has never seen because Kimo has always looked at Walt from the chest down. He can see the lights strung across the open frame and the lights are above him now — not above and far, but above and close, the close is the thing that says he is up where the lights are.

"Good," Kimo says. The word is the word he said about the cake and the lights and the people. He says it now about the height and the height is the thing that is good. His hands are on Lena's head and the hands are chocolate and the chocolate is in her rainbow hair and the hair is the thing that holds his prints. She does not care. The not caring is the thing that is the same as the not caring about the dust and the dirt and the grimy hands. He is on her shoulders and the shoulders are the thing that carry.

Lena walks the pad. The walking is slow and the slow is the thing she does because the pad is the thing she is showing him. She walks past the framed walls and the walls are the things she built and the building is the thing she wants him to see from up here. The walls are plumb and the plumb is the thing that is hers. She walks past the scrap lumber table and Frank is there with his beer and Frank looks up at Kimo and Kimo looks down at Frank and the looking down is the thing Kimo has never done at Frank. Frank raises his beer and the raising is the thing that is a toast and the toast is the thing that is silent.

She walks past the studs where Sina is standing with Tomasi. Sosefina is beside her mother and she looks up at Kimo on Lena's shoulders and the looking up is the thing that makes her smile. Aleki Junior is running the pad barefoot and he stops when he sees Kimo up high and the stopping is the thing a seven-year-old does when a one-year-old is on a giant's shoulders. The three-year-old is somewhere by the cake. Tomasi puts his hand on Sina's arm and the putting is the thing that says he sees it too — the boy up high, the woman underneath, the two of them moving across the pad like a single thing.

Janet takes a photo and the photo is the thing that captures what she can. The photo will be blurry because the light is the string lights and the string lights are not enough and Marco will take a blurry one too and the blurry is the thing that is the record. Samuel is standing by the table and he watches and the watching is the thing that is his face and his face is the thing that is not breaking. Kimo points at the framed walls from up high and the pointing is the thing he does when he sees something and the something is the walls.

"Wall," he says. Then: "Good wall."

Two words. The two words are the thing that is a phrase and the phrase is the thing that is the first phrase and the first phrase is the thing that is the combination. He has said wall and he has said good but he has not said them together and the together is the thing that is the new thing and the new thing is the thing that is the birthday. Lena stops walking and the stopping is the thing that lets the phrase land. She puts her hand on Kimo's leg and the hand is the hand that built the wall and the wall is the thing her son just called good from her shoulders.

"Yeah, buddy," she says. "That's a good wall."

Daryl looks at Ray and Ray looks at Daryl and the looking is the thing that says they heard it. Walt stops mid-cut and the stopping is the thing that says he heard it. Tuki puts down his cake. The pad is the thing that is the quiet and the quiet is the thing that holds the phrase and the phrase is the thing that a one-year-old said about a wall his mother built and the wall is good and the good is the thing that is the word.