A Little Quiet, A Little Loud
On Francis’ 19th birthday, Puck threw aside our curtains to black tree skeletons against pale orange morning sky, right out of “The Willows.” And he already smelled suspiciously of Penn Station. “I love stale French fries! … I need some water. Yeah, I’m starting to hydrate.”
At eight o’clock, El Oso took Puck into the city for breakfast with The Duke, Chet Danger, and Red Strike. Chocolate waffles, arcade games with the guys. I’m sure he felt like pretty big stuff.
I found my equivalent at home during three and a half hours of restocking books, clothes, and then some Scottish highlands on my laptop in the quiet that only comes on a Saturday morning alone in a house with a cat. And two primroses that she has decided aren’t worth snacking on after all.
Somewhere in the middle morning, I received news of an epic hockey battle over the Atlantic. I never watch hockey, but if St. Louis is somehow involved on the international stage, suddenly, I am very interested.
It wasn’t long later that the black truck rumbled back down the street and the boys joined me in the Mazda for Part II of a cold Saturday in February, right before the warm-up.
As if Puck’s day wasn’t already exciting, he walked into the Silverspoon’s where a red paper bag waited for him with his very own valentine: Wall-E on DVD. The dancing and beatboxing commenced. “YEAH! YEAH! YEAH! N-SS N-SS N-SS! Oh YEAH!” A viewing followed.
Gloria spread frozen Brussels sprouts on a pan to bake for lunch. “I know these are your favorite,” she said slyly, then pushed over a bowl of milk chocolate hearts wrapped in pink foil. For once, I wasn’t the only one who participated in this form of indulgence. There was also a vase of yellow roses on the counter for Gloria from Theodore.
Halfway through Wall-E the first time, Tiaan showed up for the afternoon. So a second viewing of Wall-E began. “It’s okay,” El Oso explained. “He’s going for a world record of watching Wall-E.” Puck packed up his plate of pork and cucumber lunch with an added handful of tortilla chips and headed for the basement with his buddy and another one-point-five hours of futuristic robots. Upstairs, Gloria rented “Enchanted” for the living room and switched on the fire while Theodore napped.
Evening in a cool blue, the yards still filled with snow. Tiaan’s family arrived and stayed for awhile: tea, games, cat-petting by both Tiaan’s sisters (a suddenly very happy cat).
Theodore treated all of us to Stefanina’s about an hour later; he and El Oso walked back with two boxes and a salad while we watched the shootout from the morning’s game in Russia.