22 : 6%

Somewhere before nine o’clock that morning, Yali wrapped up his 40th medical appointment in the space of twelve months. This young man has certainly had his fill, and he doesn’t seem to care too much. When all the doctors and therapists are equally friendly, he can’t tell the difference between a doctor’s appointment and a playdate.

And meanwhile, although he was stagnating at 0% on the height, he had graduated to 6% on weight. This muchacho is fattening up, American style.

After the appointment, Puck and Yali stood in line for the stickers and dum dums bins at the receptionist’s desk.

“What happened to the old suckers?” Puck asked the receptionist, surprised.

She laughed. “Ha! I’ve never had anyone miss the old safety suckers before. That’s funny!”

Puck still wasn’t opposed to a dum dum.

 

It was mid-afternoon. The boys and I had to hit the store for a few groceries. I asked Puck to help Yali put on his shoes and socks.

“Yali! Yali! You have to calm down! You’re being crazy! Yali. Yali. It’s okay. You just have to be calm now, okay? Okay? You’ve never not been crazy your whole life. Have you?”

A few moments of silence passed as Puck completed the task. Then I heard him speak up again to his baby brother.

“Come on. Let’s go. Now you can be crazy.”

 

Yali wasn’t exactly 100% behaved in the store. At the self check-out he screamed at Puck for trying to corral him. Puck gripped his chubby brown wrist on the way out and gave him a lecture on the way to the car.

“Now, Yali. You were very bad in the store. And I’m very disappointed in you. I’m very disappointed in you, Yali.”

The smug look on Yali’s fat little dimpled face as he marched towards the car, suggested that he wasn’t too bothered by that fact. He is looking every bit of that 6%, and growing.

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Jamie Larson
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