yeah IV is pretty much 100% autobiographical. I have this really vivid memory of the clanking of the extension ladder, and the cold rough aluminium almost cutting into my fingers as I held on real tight while he climbed up towards the roof.
It's one of those things that, in retrospect, my dad didn't really *need* me to hold the ladder, he was just giving me something to do, but it felt like A Real Important Job and that was nice.