70 : And More...
The boys left early, about 7:15 that morning. Gloria was expecting a delivery of two grandsons for the whole day while Oxbear and I forged onwards into Day Three of throwing everything away back home.
Around the traditional lunch hour, another workman arrived to seal the cracks in the basement. 47 years after its original pouring, and the foundation was sort of asking for it. He stayed around for a few hours to finish that while Oxbear and I continued chucking away just about everything but the kitchen sink. It felt pretty good.
Meanwhile, in another part of the city, Gloria took the boys hiking out at Babler State Park. It sounded like everything was going pretty grand until Puck found a tick running across his person and decided the hike had suddenly come to an end.
It was about 5:00. Oxbear and I decided to haul out our third Goodwill load of the day and clock out.
So we ended up having dinner at McGurk’s out on the patio garden near the old O’Fallon train tracks. Oxbear ordered a giant pork chop and I went with the artichoke mozzarella bread. I patted myself on the back for intentionally ordering something that contained artichokes. I was okay with it mostly because I knew a bag of Reeses was waiting for me on Oxbear’s desk back home.
When we arrived at the Silverspoon’s around seven, Puck was heavily indecisive about whether or not he should spend the night. Part of him was a little concerned that we had thrown away the entire contents of his bedroom while he was away for the day.
“I just want to go home and see the house,” he told me warily. “I really just want to see the house.”
“Don’t worry,” Oxbear assured him. “I saved four things for you as keepsakes. And I tossed all your Legos.”
Puck threw himself on the ground in a mock faint and grinned.
“Besides,” Oxbear added, “this is probably the first vacation you’ve ever had away from Yali.”
“I don’t want one. I want to be with Yali.”
Eventually, he decided to stay. I think he felt better after smashing his face against the car window to make Yali squeal and giggle in his carseat at the hilarity of his older brother.