Another End
Friday, December 31, 2004
Collette had just finished giving the kitchen a good temporary scrubbing. It was her and OLeif’s first New Years.
And Carrie-Bri had made it safely to New York City the previous morning, in time for the grand celebration after a certain hotel flub was worked out. It seemed to be a promising New Years for her and Elizabeth.
Linnea had been showing Collette her small doll wedding collection, (as the tsunami was being discussed amongst the family and Grandma Combs). There was a small rubber wedding cake where the head of the groom on top, had been knocked off. Linnea showed it first to Collette and then to Mom.
“Francis, you knocked off the groom’s head?” Mom tried not to laugh when Linnea told her.
“I didn’t mean to,” Francis’ mischievous eyes betrayed how funny he thought the situation actually was.
“It’s OK,” Linnea went back to her dolls. “I’ll get over it.”
They stifled their laughter at her remark.
Then they all sat around a short time after Grandma showed them the wonderfully soft “fun scarf” Great Aunt Sally had knitted for her and sent up from New Mexico for Christmas.
Francis and Linnea began to chalk the walls. And Francis folded his arms across his chest, eyeballing the blank wall before him, one hand out to measure his first stroke, as if preparing to begin a masterpiece.
Grandma told them about her latest CERT certification and her bag of emergency items to set up a shelter should a disaster, natural or unnatural, occur. She had a good bit of police experience as well, and told the tale of how once she had kept back the crowds after a little old Italian lady had fallen down a flight of stairs..
“…blood everywhere,” she said.
Collette grimaced as she began sketching the tsunami wave with her new drawing pencils in her study notebook. Later, Joe and Rose added their own interpretations of the disaster.
She thought back to how she and OLeif had just missed the worst hurricane in recorded history while on their honeymoon. One week they had been enjoying the cool green of the rain forests of Grenada. And the next, most of the island had been devastated.
Then there was the San Madrid fault, south of St. Louis. They were long overdue for the next great rumbling, and Collette rather wondered if the next earthquake would rock the Mississippi in her lifetime, enough to make it flow backwards and ring church bells in New England, as it had long ago.
“Well, the water’s heating for your cappucino, Adel, but it’s almost noon…” Grandma had been saying.
“Well, I guess it is about lunchtime. We could have the cappucino when we get back,” Mom suggested.
“Whatever you want, Adel. But I suppose it is time for lunch.”
So they piled into the green slug, and shortly later they all went out under the cool warmth of the unusually pleasant gray December sky and arrived some short time later at the Picadilly Café. It was a very nice sort of place with a good old-time buffet of Jellos, mashed potatoes, vegetables, fish and chicken, and good old fashioned pies, and lemonade. The man who served the vegetables was a man somewhere in his thirties, from Australia.
“And what will you have, miss?” He asked Rose, pleasantly.
“Uh, some mashed potatoes, please,” Rose thought quickly.
“And what else?”
“French fries, please.”
The man laughed as he served her a scoop of the fries, “Both, eh?”
When Collette and Joe asked for the same, he laughed good-naturedly again.
“Must be a family thing. Just promise you won’t have any of the macaroni and cheese as well.”
“Oh, I won’t,” Collette laughed with him as she moved onto the pies.
And Joe also passed over the macaroni with a grin to pick a slice of chocolate pie instead.
It was a fine lunch and they all discussed the latest events – the tsunami, Grandma’s new neighbor, a fun old lady who went ballroom dancing every Monday night…
Collette heard three old gentlemen in the smoking section in old caps and eye glasses, discuss Indonesia and the effects of the great wave. Outside, beyond one of the windows, a spry German Shepherd bounced around the parking lot, barking at his owners above him on the hill. Apparently he had leaped off the stone ledge above him where a house stood, and could not figure out how to get back up where the two children kept beckoning him.
Then it was off to the carnival supply store on Baur and Lindbergh. It was a fun place full of stuffed animals, toys, party decorations, and every good thing one might need at a party or carnival. Collette decided to get a small package of dominoes for a dollar for when the kids came over to the apartment. And then, after a good twelve years or so of wanting one, she chose a roll of red “admit one” tickets. For some reason, she had always wanted it, and finally, for two dollars and twenty-five cents, she bought one.
She heard in the background, (as Joe tried on a black and rainbow wig), “No, ma’am, I’ve never heard of those.” It was a checker on the phone. She hung up and sighed, “Jordan almonds. She wanted Jordan almonds in gold and silver.”
It was always amusing listening to others’ conversations.
Then Rose found a gum ball machine, Francis – a set of Nerf rockets, Linnea – a deck of oversized playing cards, and Joe – a black velvet fedora and glittering blue eyelashes for New Year’s. Although, by the end, he let Rose have the eye lashes and was content with the fedora, which he wore for most of the rest of the evening. Grandma even found two batches of Mardi Gra cake mix with purple, green, and gold sugar coating for New Years and a sparkling light-up drinking glass. Mom picked out a package of old-fashioned popcorn bags for their new old-fashioned air-popper from OLeif and Collette for Christmas.
It had been a satisfying day, and by the end, when Collette found herself at home, she fell asleep on the couch waiting for OLeif to come home. He did, much later, certainly after midnight from his evening with the guys in The Loop, and he carried her back to bed.
The next morning, Collette found herself with a peculiarly piercing headache as OLeif was leaving for work. The poor boy likely had little sleep and was sure to be tired upon returning.
In her half-sleep she mumbled, “I have a headache.”
“Oh, poor baby,” he made a sad face as he adjusted his tie. “Do you want something for it?”
“No,” Collette dropped her head back onto the pillow.
He came over and kissed her goodbye and then he was gone for the day. He was such a good man, always tried to do whatever he could to help her out, to make her comfortable.
And once she had woken and cleaned up the place, she ate an apple out of a wooden bowl. Her headache seemed to have somewhat subsided after taking some allergy medicine. And then the phone rang.
“Hello?” She knew it was from home.
“Hi – this is Francis Snicketts.”
“I know; hi, dude.”
“Well, I just wanted to know if you were coming over for New Years Eve with us.”
“Maybe, pal. We’ll see.”
“Well, I just wanted to say that I really appreciate all you’ve, all that you’ve done for us this year, teaching Joe math and everything…”
“You’re welcome, dude. That’s really sweet.”
“Well, I just wanted to let you know. So if you can’t come over, I just wanted to wish you and OLeif a happy New Year.”
“Thanks, dude. I love you.”
“I love you too.”
He was the absolute best, the dear boy. The more she thought about it, she had a bunch of great guys in her life. Dad, OLeif, Joe, Francis… they were all very protective and caring. She only hoped that Carrie-Bri and Rose and Linnea could find equally wonderful guys to bring into the family sometime later.
The Canadians were home; they must have pulled in the night before while she was at home. A soft glow came from within their little niche and the dark blue Ford Focus sat parked in its same spot, as always. She wondered if they had enjoyed their holidays. She could not recall if they had come from British Columbia or whether it had been some place else, but she did hope that they had enjoyed their return home. She wondered how much longer they would be in St. Louis.
The skies grew gray with the dark as two thousand four came to a close. All in all, Collette decided that it had been a good year. There would always be trials and troubles and obstacles. But the fact of the matter was – God had every day designed to work as it should. Everything that came could be handled, and He was always there, watching, guiding, and protecting. And there was always joy where He was. Life was a good thing, and Collette looked forward to what was to come.