All it Takes is a Cute Girl
Wednesday, June 15, 2005
Another Wednesday had come around for Collette, and somehow, though the summer had not even officially begun, Collette felt as though it was sweeping by and would be gone before she could get her thoughts gathered. It was the feeling of being behind. People changed so much.
But the party had gone off quite well. Grandma showed up first, as usual. Carrie and Collette ran off to the library to find some Alfred Hitchcock films for later that night. As usual, there was a significant fine to be paid up, from Rose’s book collection. And when the print-out was handed over to review, Collette and Carrie found it quite funny that one of Carrie’s books from twelve years ago, was still on the sheet, listed as “lost”. It was Alligator Shoes. After all that time, it still hadn’t been cleared.
They returned just as the Englishs and Silverspoons had arrived. There was good food, plenty of badminton, and fireflies (which Francis helped Lonnie and Leia catch in bottles) as the night came on.
After cake, they opened their gifts and Eve received a beautiful gelatinous candle from Grandma Combs with a resin scene of butterflies and a garden fence placed inside. It was very beautiful, and the moms got a good laugh out of watching the engineer dads contemplate how such a candle might work. And all the kids began poking the gelatin, quite fascinated. It amused Grandma that the simple gift would cause so much uproar.
And late into the night, all of the Englishs stayed to play Ultimate Outburst, the moms became quite carried away, laughing until their faces turned red.
Samantha Bee, Molly McCrae, and Tennessee Coca-Cola came. Even Mercy came shortly later, decked in cowboy hat, long swinging earrings, and a cowboy t-shirt. She seemed happy with her life of singlehood and reminisced over the old Greenland colony of singles that she and Collette had once talked over. They had made a pact that if neither one ever married, they would move to Greenland and begin a colony, building a beautiful stone house with stained glass, and live there till the end of their days.
Meanwhile, Diana whisked in as the sun set, from life-guarding at the YMCA. She had news about her trip to D.C. She even made it to the top of the Washington Monument at night, after jokingly asking a security guard if he could get them inside the White House. He said he couldn’t, but that he could sneak them up the Washington Monument, though it was never open at night.
“Aw,” Mercy laughed, “all it takes is a cute girl, and they’re hooked. They’d let you do anything.”
“Well guys,” Diana nodded her head, “I have to admit, that, he was rather good-looking.”
Diana loved D.C. and wanted to move there the following summer before attending grad school. People were always moving on – sometimes it amazed Collette how much had changed just over the past five years. That was life.