13 : Could Dad Fit Through a Trash Can?

“Hold Puck’s hand,” I tell Yali every time we get out of the car on a parking lot.

He grins and slips his little brown hand in Puck’s big white hand. (When he feels like cooperating, which is about a 50/50.) And they follow me wherever I happen to be taking us.

“Mom, see how that bird built a nest up in that ‘c’?” Puck pointed to the Schnuck’s Pharmacy sign as we walked inside the grocery store.

“I do. Not bad, huh?”

“Yeah…” I could see his brain spinning. “Actually, I think it would have been a better spot if he built it in the ‘a’, Mom. Because then he’s sheltered in on all sides, you know? In the ‘c’, he has part of it that’s still open to the weather. But the ‘y’ would not be a good idea at all.”

A couple of hours later we had completed our errands for the day. It was hot again. So hot. The heat index melted past 105 as I took the boys outside for a little sun. Yali followed Puck around the driveway as Puck contemplated grand plans for our future home.

“Mom?” he paused biking around for a moment. “Do you think Dad could fit through a trash can?”

“Um… like the trash cans you put out on the street?”

“No… I mean like, you know, a typical cheap sixteen dollar, twenty dollar trash can.”

“Like the one we have in the kitchen back home?”

“Yes.”

“No… I don’t think Dad could fit through that kind of trash can. But that one he could.” I nodded to the green trash can sitting at the end of the driveway.

“But can you just buy one of those somewhere without it belonging to a company?”

“I think so.”

“Good. Because I’m using a trash can as the entrance to our tornado shelter that goes underground. Can I get a metal detector, Mom?”

Later, back inside, things were getting a little too quiet in the other room. I turned around from my laptop to watch both boys on hands and knees attempting to sneak their way across the living room without me noticing them.

Puck’s eyes jumped when I caught them and he laughed maniacally. “NOOOOO!!!!!!”

The funny thing is, the more quiet they are, the louder they become.