August 11

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

OLeif reported that the electricity had returned at around one o’clock in the morning. So Collette and Puck were dropped off at home after some of Grandma’s chunky granola squares for Puck, as Grandma, Mom, Rose, and Francis headed off toward New Mexico, with Francis behind the wheel, and Rose’s library stuffed into her white leather bag, which included, but was not limited to: Don Quixote, Mark Twain’s The Gilded Age and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, and Plants that Kill.

At home, Collette and Puck took a walk around a neighborhood, quiet, save for the occasional buzz of chainsaws, which had also been heard within minutes of the passing of the evening’s previous storm.

Puck chased his shadow on the way home.

“Got ya!” he cried.

Influence: Highlights magazine from Grandma Snicketts. A poem OLeif had read to him about stomping on one’s shadow.

For the rest of the morning, Collette and Puck waited for the dryer repairman to arrive while they listened to Call it Courage on tape, painted with OLeif’s Japanese water pens, and ate banana chips.

Puck had interesting excuses for not napping that afternoon.

“I have a frog in my froat, Mama,” he said seriously. “I need some hot tea for it.”

Little Bear. Collette named that one.

After the quiet hour, the repairman arrived to fix the dryer belt. Twenty minutes later, he was finished, and everything was working properly.

“Bye, Puck!” he called as he left, and waved to him as he drove off.

“He waved to me, Mama!” Puck exclaimed, delighted.

Then he and Collette began an immediate load of laundry in the wash. They watched it fill with water and begin to mix with the detergent.

“I wish Francis was here to hear this noise,” Puck said thoughtfully, watching the chugging machine.

Toward the later part of the day, Puck was getting very tired. He had only slept for nine hours the previous evening. And he wanted to see his daddy, who would be home too late to tuck him in for the night.

“Could I have daddy back?” he asked Collette. “Could I have him back right now?”

So Collette let him place a phone call.

“I want you back, Daddy,” he said. “I miss you, Daddy.”

For the evening: Augustine, Shepherding a Child’s Heart, Mark Driscoll, and Ballykissangel.