Always Something Different
Half an hour out to Florissant in Dad’s old gold car; he drives Goldilocks now. Puck tapping my shoulder – and Mom’s – for every, “Yellow car! Yellow car!” The day Irish taught him that game should live in infamy. Carrie-Bri and Irish followed in car two.
Grandma was waiting for us in her apartment, boxes of items ready to be sent to the Blue Rose, Grandma’s donation shop/center of choice. Puck, of course, had to rummage. I think the only item he managed to get in the end was a giant snow globe from New York.
Subway sandwiches from the fridge, bags of Fritos, Pringles, and bakery-style chocolate chip cookies. We didn’t have long to stay after lunch, during which Grandma cycled through some of her photos on the television for us from “the Facebook.”
Puck was packed up with another metal ring from Steak ‘n Shake and a pot-of-gold-under-a-rainbow thimble from Grandma’s thimble collection, which she had put aside for him.
Another half hour to The Valley where Puck and I waited all of two minutes in the orthodontist’s waiting room for Irish to have a bracket fixed. Her first offense.
“Yeah, don’t eat almonds anymore,” they told her.
Back in the day, they reprimanded me for chewing on pen caps. Pen caps? I would have set them straight at the time, but figured my reputation could take a false hit from time to time.
On another pretty mild July day, we all met back at the house for a couple of hours: stacks of books for Puck, “I Love Lucy” for Irish, hammocks for Puck and myself, etc. Francis returned with a fresh sack of Jimmy Johns. Then Izzy dropped by for a few minutes to borrow the generator for a photo shoot. So Puck took him on a spin up the mile-loop in the go-cart. Scrawny blonde, big red-head. Funny sight.
Puck had his own mini go-cart started on the living room floor. Mostly boards from El Oso’s old clay modeling stand, and sparkly blue cloth scraps glued on top, leftovers from Francis’ spring formal bow tie.
After a dinner of goulash and roasted vegetables, we all split ways: Mom to Bible study, the girls to Walgreen’s – Irish’s quick/brief get-away of choice – and Puck and myself back home to catch the game. Puck did have some thoughts on the veggies though. He’s a veggie man, but herbs and spices make him slightly paranoid.
“I don’t like things that are … ummm … decorated like that.”