Arrival of the Daleks

Dad, beginning a new contract with RABO, was working from home on Fridays, which was something the family had not experienced in a number of years.
He and Carrie were having a conversation regarding Carrie’s hopes for varied job applications in the tightening field of astrophysics.
“I’m looking into space weather,” she had been saying.
Mom laughed.
“It looks like we have a forecast for dark and cold,” she said.
Meanwhile, Joe was giving his own interpretation of the weather, having just poured himself a bowl of Fiber Plus.
“The forecast for today calls for flakes!” he announced, tossing several bran flakes toward Collette, as she instructed Francis to open his math book.
While this was going on, Linnea was busy sitting with Puck in his port-a-crib while he gave her a Chinese massage, walking his baby feet all over her back. Linnea looked forward to these weekly massages.
Later, Linnea emerged from the school room with Mom behind her.
“Announcement,” said Mom happily. “Linnea has just completed her entire Latin and Greek program, passing her final exam with 100% accuracy.”
Linnea was congratulated. There would be Dairy Queen in celebration, once Francis also finished. And, as in the olden days, when Collette and Carrie were still in grade school, Mom was reinstating, temporarily, the End-of-the-Book award. Finish a textbook, and one was permitted to select a book of choice from the bookstore. This, of course, was back in a former era when books cost only a few dollars. Mom would have to set a limit.
Dad had just returned from running to the bank, passing through the rather extreme construction on the road outside the subdivision. They had blocked the road in order to lay pipes. When Dad finally walked in the door…
“I told them to clear out,” he joked. “Then I gunned it and ramped that trench.”
At this time, he noticed something sitting on the counter.
“What’s this?” he asked, picking it up.
“That’s a domino that Linnea painted,” said Mom.
It was painted from one end to the other in an ocean scene with a large blue and white wave headed toward a peppermint lighthouse.
“Why did she paint a domino?” Dad wanted to know, uncertain as to her choice of material.
“Oh, I don’t know,” said Mom. “Maybe for the same reason you made a horse head out of toothpicks when you were in high school.”
“And it was stolen,” said Dad. “I think my art teacher took it.”
Sometime in the afternoon, the UPS truck left a poorly marked box for Carrie. A full set of Doctor Who action figure and remote-controlled daleks. A fantastic eBay find. Carrie was quickly becoming a collector.
Carrie, Francis, and Linnea commenced a dalek war, running them toward one another as the daleks commanded “Exterminate! Exterminate!”.
When Puck saw these oddities, he pronounced them to be “Dr. Who vacuums!”
And then Collette and Linnea discussed possibilities of Linnea joining a swim team once she completed the level of Shark at the YMCA.
Then Carrie strapped on Puck’s dog back-pack monkey leash. Puck walked himself and the fluffy dog around outside with Collette while Linnea helped the little neighbor girls make soup out of dandelions, wild onions, and rocks.
That evening, Rose joined them at the house for Little Caesar’s.