13 APR 26

Patience is buried in improper fractions that morning while Yali shovels a three-stack of pancakes down his throat layered in maple syrup... anything to delay Math... clears his plate then slips outside for some unknown self-mission returning later to ask... “Does anyone else smell static?... you know like when you slide down a plastic slide?”...

The theme of distraction continues through Math... and more Math... Writing and Reading... by the time Puck joins the crew for History with a plate of fried chicken late in the morning... mostly to critique their knowledge of the effects of topography during warfare... Yali has already blown through removing screws from random things with the power drill accompanied by excessive yelling “AAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!”... shooting Patience with rubber bands wrapped around those six-inch plastic rulers pulled from the Goodwill bins... and also-shooting Patience with spitballs burst out of the innards of an aluminum straw... “YAAAAAAAALIIIIIIII!!”...

But it’s sometime after “The Time Machine” and learning about fermentation through pickles that the two youngest tots are chasing each other around the house for various annoyances and into the kitchen...

CRASH!!!! RATTLE RATTLE CRASH CRASH CRASH!!

Puck emerges from his room to learn what fantastically loud and new thing his siblings have managed to break and begins to scold them for the kitchen island shelves and pots and pans lying clattered all over the floor... dusted in a fine sprinkling of dried basil from the spice drawer... he then begins the chastisements... apparently forgetting about his fire ring on the wood floor from yesterday... as he instructs the guilty on how to rebuild the shelving and crockery...

And then before all the boys leave for evening activity it’s more wind and so much birdsong and new honeysuckle and green as the two redeemed criminals throw themselves onto the trampoline with the garden hose for premature summer fun while the dog watches on... the rubber Scarlet King Snake from the Goodwill bins wrapped around her neck for a second collar... she looks almost proud...