The eave was the edge of the roof that hung over the wall. An overhang of wood and shingle that stuck out past the building like a hat brim. The eave kept the rain off the wall the way a hat keeps the rain off your face. Without the eave the rain ran straight down the wall and the wall got wet and the wet wall rotted. The eave was the building's first lesson in cause and effect.

The eave made a shadow. On a summer afternoon the eave shadow fell on the wall and the wall stayed cool and the room behind the wall stayed cool and the person in the room did not need air conditioning because the eave was doing the job. The eave was passive cooling before anybody called it passive cooling. The eave understood angles. The summer sun was high and the eave blocked it. The winter sun was low and the eave let it in. The eave was the building's calendar.

Birds nested in the eave. Sparrows and swallows and sometimes a wren. They built nests in the gap between the rafter tail and the soffit and the nest was tucked up under the overhang where the rain could not reach. The eave was the bird's apartment. No rent. No lease. The bird paid with a song every morning and the song was worth more than the space. The vinyl soffit has no gap. The bird has no apartment. The morning is quieter. Quieter is not better.

The eave dripped. In winter the ice formed on the edge of the eave and the ice was an ice dam and the water behind the dam backed up under the shingles and leaked into the wall. The ice dam was the eave's only weakness. The roofer put a heat cable on the eave and the cable melted the ice and the water ran off. The heat cable was the eave's winter coat. You took care of the eave and the eave took care of the wall and the wall took care of you.

They build without eaves now. The modern building goes straight up from the wall to the roof with no overhang. The rain hits the wall. The sun hits the wall. The wall takes everything the sky throws at it because the architect wanted a clean line. A clean line is a wall without a hat. The eave was not clean. The eave was practical. The eave said I know what is coming and I am ready. The flat edge says I do not know and I do not care.

See also: Soffit, Gable