April 11
Puck was going spelunking with his Aunt Linnea under the kitchen benches. Then he smashed his nose into the screen door and licked it. This was followed with playing concertos on the piano with Linnea.
Mom was at the Expo leading a high school graduate panel discussion, Rose was at class, Joe appeared to be sleeping in (having no class for the day), Collette was teaching Francis math, and everyone watched the wind.
Collette took a walk with Linnea and Puck when Francis was finished with his math. Rolling green hills, lichen, bright yellow blossoms, amazing winds, blue skies filled with rushing white clouds, Bradford pears… The wind became so incredibly strong, that Collette thought a dead tree might fall over on them as they walked down the road.
Back at the house, Carrie had just taped over her birth date on the wooden cookie cutter plaque hanging on the wall. Everyone had one up there. Francis took a pencil and began writing over the strip of white tape.
“Francis!” Carrie cried.
She whacked him in the gut.
“OW!!” Francis yelled, laughing, “I was writing ‘unknown’!”
Carrie laughed hard.
“Sorry, Francis.”
Later, while Rose was still at jewelry class waiting for her ring to finish polishing (which held a long blue stone she had bought from her teacher for nine dollars; she had also accidentally chipped the stone in the process of making the ring), Carrie and Joe talked about the universe and aliens.
“Does anyone ever wonder if Rose is an alien?” Joe asked.
“I’ve often wondered that,” said Carrie.
“No, I don’t think so. I’ve done tests. She’s not smart enough.”
“Maybe that’s why they dropped her off.”
Carrie bent over laughing. Francis also laughed loudly while drawing pictures with permanent marker on a pile of apples in Mom’s china bowl.
Later, Rose came home and sent the dog on another photo shoot in the living room.