April 7

Puck was on his second cold of the year. But, as usual, he was still happy. His big smiles displayed five white baby teeth.
When they arrived at the house, Francis brought Collette downstairs to show her his prize find hanging on his storage cabinet.
“I’ve called it Mr. Waffles,” he said.
It was a pellet gun, which looked like an actual hand gun. He had found it in the woods with Puff-o-Lump and Creole on Sunday afternoon.
Upstairs, Francis also showed her the turtle they had found on the road, covered with mud. He had given it to Rose. It crawled around in a small box on the coffee table. Puck wasn’t too impressed. He wasn’t sure it was alive.
Joe had just come up the stairs with two bicycle tires pressed up against his eyes.
“Do these frames flatter me?” he asked.
Then the tornado siren went off. It was perfectly sunny outside, but it was the first Monday of the month – siren test.
“Ahhhhhh!!” Joe cried, running around the inside of the house in circles. “Tornado! Ahhhhhh!!”
Everyone else just stared at him, and laughed.
Meanwhile, Puck was learning escape arts while eating raisins. Carrie’s belt, which Collette had fastened around his middle, wasn’t working very well to keep him in place. Puck just grinned and tried to stand up as soon as Collette pulled him back down.
Carrie was making all meals for the week at the house. This included cream scones, soft boiled eggs, and orange juice for breakfast. Then there were fish tacos for lunch while the kids watched an old Snicketts favorite: The Long, Long Trailer.
The best part of the day came after Puck’s nap. He was standing in the living room. Collette looked up just in time to see him take his first two official steps toward the rocking chair. Puck suddenly became the man of the hour. He took another “no hands” step toward the coffee table. He seemed to be pretty pleased with his success.
Outside in the front, the tulips had bloomed, bright red. So had all the Bradford Pears. It was warm again.