09 APR 26
Forest Park is spilling over in humanity that morning... no parking available for our intended field trip to the Art Museum...
“Let’s go home...” Puck suggests... “Actually...” **wheels spinning** “let’s do Gus’ Pretzels...” // “Yes! Yes!” // “Gus’ Pretzels!”... the votes are coming in from the back seat...
Okay okay... it’s been awhile... we coast east...
Heavy paper sack of bratwurst pretzel rolls with dipping sauces and we hop over to the Goodwill Outlet by the Armory... we’ve never been before and the boys are a little excited about it...
Large plastic dumpster-carts of mostly garbage... everywhere... Puck’s eyes are almost glowing as he grabs a shopping cart and wheels it over to what he and Yali can only interpret as treasure... soon items are being flung into the cart... a pair of sunglasses and a small wooden fishing boat... an Adidas hat and a metal index card filing box from the 70s... Navajo sand art and a rubber snake... the layers in the cart continue to build... all items are eclectic and seemingly random... yet carefully chosen...
By now their sister is also curiously exploring the bins... she’s collected a pile of trendy sweaters and a handful of shrink-wrapped six-inch rulers for math class... always a little practical...
A final squeaky black rubber rat with red eyes goes flying into the cart and we shovel all that loot onto the scale... $21.69... Puck concludes that... “This is like the best place ever”...
After all dumpster-diving products have been fully assimilated back home... Puck with a mallet pounding a thick partially threaded machine screw into the kitchen wall for the delicate Navajo sand art... “This might be unnecessary...” he notes...
Patience is calling the dog... “OH E-GGO! IT’S TIME FOR YOUR BAA-AA-AATH!”
She isn’t entirely stupid... an exaggerated snore emits from beneath the dinner table where she feigns an afternoon nap...
Still... twenty minutes later under cloud-speckled skies and about eighty degrees of temperature... she’s a shivering mass of mutt leashed to the trampoline while Yali sprays the garden hose and Patience methodically scrubs oatmeal shampoo into her terrified fur...
“OKAY EGGO! YOU’RE DONE GIRL! GO PLAY!”...
And she does... and her playground is the ash pit... because what else is a freshly washed dog expected to do?