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1、A woman on a roofIt was during the week of hot sun，that June. Three men were at work on the roof，where the leads got so hot they had the idea of throwing water on to cool them. But the water steamed，then sizzled ；and they make jokes about getting an egg from some woman in the flats under the flats u
2、nder them，to poach it for their dinner. By two it was not possible to touch the guttering they were replacing，and they speculated about what workmen did in regularly hot countries. Perhaps they should borrow kitchen gloves with the egg? They were all a bit dizzy，not used to the heat；and they shed th
3、eir coats and stood side by side squeezing themselves into a foot wide patch of shade against a chimney，careful to keep their feet in the thick socks and boots out of the sun. There was a fine view across several acres of roofs. Not far off a man sat in a deck chair reading the newspapers. Then they
4、 saw her， between chimneys，about fifty yards away. She lay face down on a brown blanket. They could see the top part of her：black hair，a flushed solid back，arms spread out. “Shes stark naked，” said Stanley，sounding annoyed.Harry，the oldest，a man of about forty-five，said：“Looks like it.”Young Tom，sev
5、enteen，said nothing，but he was excited and grinning.Stanley said： “Someonell report her if she doesnt watch out.” “She thinks no one can see，” said Tom，craning his head all ways to see more.At this point the woman，still lying prone，brought her two hands up behind her shoulders with the ends of a sca
6、rf in them，tied it behind her back，and sat up. She wore a red scarf tied around her breasts and brief red bikini pants. This being the first day of the sun she was white，flushing red. She sat smoking，and did not look up when Stanley let out a wolf whistle . Harry said：“Small things amuse small minds
7、， ” leading the way back to their part of the roof，but it was scorching . Harry said：“Wait ，Im going to rig up some shade ，” and disappeared down the skylight into the building. Now that hed gone，Stanley and Tom went to the farthest point they could to peer at the woman. She had moved，and all they c
8、ould see were two pink legs stretched on the blanket. They whistled and shouted but the legs did not move. Harry came back with a blanket and shouted： “Come on，then.” He sounded irritated with them. They clambered back to him and he said to Stanley：“What about your missus ?” Stanley was newly marrie
9、d，about three months. Stanley said，jeering：“What about my missus?” - preserving his independence. Tom said nothing，but his mind was full of the nearly naked woman. Harry slung the blanket，which he had borrowed from a friendly woman downstairs，from the stem of a television aerial to a row of chimney-
10、pots . This shade fell across the piece of gutter they had to replace. But the shade kept moving，they had to adjust the blanket，and not much progress was made. At last some of the heat left the roof，and they worked fast，making up for lost time. First Stanley，then Tom，made a trip to the end of the ro
11、of to see the woman. “Shes on her back，” Stanley said， adding a jest which made Tom snicker ，and the older man smile tolerantly. Toms report was that she hadnt moved， but it was a lie. He wanted to keep what he had seen to himself：he had caught her in the act of rolling down the little red pants ove
12、r her hips，till they were no more than a small triangle. She was on her back，fully visible，glistening with oil.Next morning，as soon as they came up，they went to look. She was already there， face down，arms spread out，naked except for the little red pants. She had turned brown in the night. Yesterday
13、she was a scarlet-and-white woman，today she was a brown woman. Stanley let out a whistle. She lifted her head，startled，as if shed been asleep，and looked straight over at them. The sun was in her eyes，she blinked and stared，then she dropped her head again. At this gesture of indifference，they all thr
14、ee，Stanley，Tom and old Harry，let out whistles and yells. Harry was doing it in parody of the younger men，making fun of them，but he was also angry. They were all angry because of her utter indifference to the three men watching her.“Bitch，” said Stanley.“She should ask us over，” said Tom，snickering.H
15、arry recovered himself and reminded Stanley：“If shes married，her old man wouldnt like that.”“Christ，” said Stanley virtuously，“if my wife lay about like that，for everyone to see， Id soon stop her.”Harry said，smiling：“How do you know，perhaps shes sunning herself at this very moment?”“Not a chance，not
16、 on our roof.” The safety of his wife put Stanley into a good humor，and they went to work. But today it was hotter than yesterday；and several times one or the other suggested they should tell Matthew，the foreman ， and ask to leave the roof until the heat wave was over. But they didnt. There was work to be done in the basement of the big block of flats，but up here they felt free，on a different level from ordinary humanity sh
