August 12

Thursday, August 12, 2010

100 degrees. That was the predicted temperature of the day.

As Puck called his daddy out of bed that morning for milk and oatmeal, he said enthusiastically, “Come on, Daddy! You’re going to miss all the fun!”

Bible study had been canceled, so Puck was not happy to miss seeing ‘Miss Stacie-June’, or his nana. He pulled the coffeepot out of the low cabinet.

“I’m gonna make Nana some coffee,” he said, as if to say that would fix everything.

Later, while looking through Collette’s picture book of tropical destinations, Collette showed Puck drawings of coconut trees.

“You could climb the tree and pick a coconut and eat it,” Collette told him.

“No,” said Puck, thinking about this. “’Cause God said, ‘No!’”

When the cover of Collette’s picture book of Mexico fell off, Puck immediately snatched it up, calling it a ‘map’. Then he laid it on the floor like a mat and began to do exercises on it, backwards stomach crunches, leg lifts, etc., just like his grandma.

“One! Two! Three! It’s time for exercising now!” he declared, and commenced with jogging in place.

After a number of successive rounds of these various exercises, he called it a day.

After three o’clock, the storm hit, and with palpable crashes and whirrings of smashing thunder and tumultuous lightenings. Then the rain and the wicked wind. Just as before, though not nearly as severe… The lights flickered off and on three times. But they stayed on.

And in another corner of the city, Charlie continued to fight his worst battle…

“Now I call to mind the foul deeds I committed, those sins of the flesh that corrupted my soul, not in order to love them, but to love you, my God.”

~ Confessions, Book II