A Particularly Half-Bad Day
Friday, May 27, 2005
(Installment I)
Thursday had been a particularly bad day, and Collette wished to rather forget it. There were a few highlights. It was, after all, Carrie-Bri’s graduation ceremony rehearsal. There she was – up there in the front row, the seat closest to the lectern in her jeans and flip-flops, a white tunic and cropped California top, with a bright yellow and sequined Indian scarf rolled and wrapped around the top of her head, her hair piled up behind it. Carrie then led the mock-audience in the pledge of allegiance with Jesse James and Lavender Ingrid right behind her. It was a rather proud moment for Collette to watch.
And there had been Carrie’s favorite – Lion’s Choice roast beef sandwiches for dinner with Mom. That was a good way to end the day, if it had ended there.
OLeif came late by twenty minutes, sauntering inside, sick to his stomach. He was the narrator for the ceremony, and why he even bothered, Collette did not know. He began stumbling over words and slurring them together, as he began feeling worse and worse. Mrs. English offered him water; Mom suggested he slow down the reading, then speed it up. It really was quite miserable. By the time he pronounced “Sioux” as “Soo-eee”, Collette knew he was feeling terrible. By the end, he told Collette he could pass out right there. Collette was not pleased.
“Crazy boy,” she told him later. “You should have called me. I could have taken over for you.”
“I wasn’t going to make you do that,” OLeif insisted.
Of all times to be chivalrous! Collette decided to let it go and hope for better results on Saturday afternoon.
Meanwhile, Collette could see that Clover and Carrie was involved in gathering all the seniors – Justus, Unn, Bing, Stacie, Rapunzel Milk, Jesse, Bodil, Peach Fuzz, and the others… to discuss the after-party Shakespeare festival. It was always a good thing to see the “young people” excited about life and plans. And Collette hoped that graduation would be one of the best days in Carrie’s remembrance, a day she would love for the rest of her life.
(Installment II)
Perhaps Thursday had not been quite so bad. (Even Friday evening was good – storms were coming.) Thursday, Collette had talked a few moments with Mr. Scot while he worked on Pastor Hatch’s wall-paper in the bathroom. He was an older man, not very old; he was very nice, both himself and his lovely wife. He talked of how when they were first married, they lived in a little two-room cottage. Their first meal had been an 8-ounce can of beans.
“And then we bought two hot dogs and sliced them up with the beans. We had milk to drink with it.” He looked off, remembering fondly. “We had only ten dollars between the both of us when we first got married. But,” and he raised his finger for emphasis and smiled, “I had a job!”
They seemed to have traveled a bit in their time. They lived in Rhode Island for awhile. And they had been married the evening of the very day Mrs. Scot graduated from college. What an eventful day that would have been.
And it was rather comical, Collette had to admit, watching the graduates seated up on stage, looking so very young and “innocent”.
Upon the reading of Unn’s biography, he mastered a back-flip on the way back to his chair. This, of course, received many hoots and applause.
The biographies were interesting in and of themselves. One girl modeled for Allure Modeling Agency. Another had her own homemade cinnamon roll company and was double majoring in business administration and piano performance at SLU. Another wished to light up Broadway (Rapunzel Milk – who was looking quite dramatic in a hot-red ballet skirt, sleeveless top with “Apple Pie” written across the front, and black flip-flops). And yet another guy helped organize a mission team to Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation in South Dakota when he was fifteen.
They had traveled all over – to Romania, Mexico, and Ecuador… One gal had twelve nieces and nephews already. They played LaCrosse and detailed cars. Not to mention that Carrie was heading for the Secret Service and Peach Fuzz was going to the Air Force Academy, hopefully. One young man was marrying an older woman in November – this was quite disturbing to Carrie. It was a collection of interests, an ambitious crowd.
Drops of molten glass shimmered on the great green bean pod outside Collette’s window. It was as though she sat in a forest cottage, high in the branches, looking over a vast valley and mountains… It was one of those evenings from Maine. The sky was going to sleep that night in a blue and dark glory. It was a beautiful world that night, and Collette’s hopes rested in God. She walked a good bit that evening, thinking things over.