18 on 18
1940s wartime playlist... pack of helium-balloons in bright colors and mylar... glass goblet of cash frogs waiting on the table... as Puck walks out of his room to a loud... “HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!”... he sleepily looks at me... “I'm out of toothpaste”...
Stacks of blueberry waffles topped off with whipped cream and fresh strawberries... Puck is ready for plans... mid-morning (by this time about a third of the balloons have been popped) he drives out to join J for what he estimates will be the City Museum and burgers at the Arch...
The afternoon is for picking things up and dropping things off... candy assortments for Patience's BFF returning from Worlds... red and black 3D printer filaments (one of the cousins is waiting for a Darth Vader helmet)... computer repairs, etc., etc...
The kids hold back their always-ready-to-fight spirits (mostly) for the few hours on the road... Yali wearing his “YOU WANNA PIZZA ME?” hand-me-down Puck t-shirt for about the fourth day in a row... in the MacHeadQuearters parking lot while Oxbear deals with tech... Yali decides to hop out of the Toyota and begin tying borrowed balloons to the door handles...
Home long enough for Yali to detangle the balloons off the minivan... they both pop off and sail upwards... look out the front window to see him saluting the lime green one out into space...
Then back to the studio for a last private lesson for Patience before Oklahoma...
...while Oxbear and Yali stay for the VR... “I'm just flying around Saturn right now, Collette... give me a break” Oxbear teases...
Thick air... spritz of rain... while I break from all work and watch “Derry Girls” on my laptop... Miss E and Patience hurry out of the studio carrying a cup covered with a sheet of paper and down to the bushes at the end of the business complex... after dumping the contents of the cup, both run screaming back to the studio door as a probably very confused wasp flies off into the heavy air...
Puck stays over at J's for the night... so with the kids in their bunks in a blue night... Oxbear and I bring in some 314 Tradicional authentic Mexican food for a late dinner before the rain comes...