All in a Day's Play
Clank, clank. Clatter. Stir, stir, stir. … Rattle, rattle. Shake, shake, shake.
“What are you up to buddy?”
It wasn’t much after 6:30, and Puck’s inventive ideas had obviously woken him, inspired.
“I’m working on a special formula, Mom. Let me add some more soap. To make it more poisonous. Soap is poisonous, ladies and gentlemen. I need to make it poisonous, more poisonous, so if anyone drinks it they will get poisoned.”
“Hmmm…”
Puck opened the cabinet below the sink and lugged out a fat rose pink glass flower vase. He set it on the counter and began pouring in portions of sloppy concoctions. Then rummaged through the Sharpie basket, hunting a darker shade.
“I’m going to put a cross on it, so no one drinks it,” as he added a shake of Comet scrub. “The poison stuff.”
Before he left for school, he was certain to ask me to monitor the experiment. “So Crackers doesn’t drink it. I don’t think she could stick her head in there though.”
Styrofoam plates loaded with spaghetti, meatballs, and Texas toast. It was Family Cake Fest at school, including packed cupcake bar. Puck chowed down, eyes wide on the school gym activity around him. There are times I am convinced that genuine warfare is not as loud as a room full of one hundred primary school children.
“It’s sort of lulling,” Oxbear said after awhile, his own eyes glazed over from the sensory shock.
Puck’s dinner was quickly devoured. I saw him here and there running around with the other second grade boys, most of whom were pretty intent on wrestling each other on the school uniform fashion show stage. Those who weren’t throwing each other down in little muscly grips were busy collecting pretty snazzy octopi balloons, space aliens, ninjas, and butterflies at the hands of a young Asian man with black-blonde mohawk; suited him.
With the ringing of my ears subsided, I browsed Land’s End that evening to begin calculating Puck’s new school uniform wardrobe for Third Grade. Navy and khaki, maybe a tie in Scottish plaid. Now let’s just see how many sets he burns through in nine months. No more knee-slides on the gym floor, that’s for sure.