August 26
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Day three.
Collette’s boys were unmovable that morning, so she turned on a traditional Rose-mix, which included: Tom Paxton, Bing Crosby, polka, Burl Ives, Andy Williams, bluegrass, Abba, Bocelli, and The Beach Boys.
Over at the house, for a veritable strawberry feast for Puckling. And the patio was still covered with brightly-colored chalk drawings done by Carrie, with Puck’s help, the previous day.
At the office, things were a little more busy. Judah was still not feeling very well. And the phone kept on ringing, ringing, ringing.
“Just like old times?” Sinai said with a chuckle.
It was good to work in the office again. It reminded Collette of the ‘good old days’, the good old church days, and further back to the Middle School. Times of Joe the Elder dressing up as a hillbilly for the Fourth of July for some unknown reason, of Carrie and Collette double-handedly hiding a couple of hundred Easter eggs in the grassy lawn of the school, of middle school chairs collapsing in the middle of sermons, or of the first time Collette had seen Judah and truly thought he was Amish… a set of days so long gone that hardly anyone was still left around from them.
Back at the house, Carrie-Bri and Puck had been busy making cappuccino cheesecakes.
Nearing four o’clock, Collette and Carrie hit up Target for some necessary items, which included a half-gallon of mint chocolate chip ice cream for Linnea, and a new wallet clutch for Collette: yellow with a peacock feather print, as OLeif had ordered her to do.
By the time Carrie and Collette had returned, the seminary family was moving in across the street. Linnea-Irish, Puck, and the three little girls next door introduced themselves to the four year-old boy who came over to visit for ten minutes. Linnea was not impressed.
“Puck was swinging on our swing,” she said. “And that boy came over and said, ‘Get off! I’m getting on!’”
Perhaps the situation would improve upon further acquaintance.
And then Puck got stung by another wasp. A black one. On the neck. He cried, but he was a trooper, and soon forgot the pain…
And earlier, while Carrie-Bri and Francis took off to the CWE to meet Rose before small groups, Francis took Puck out on a go-cart ride.
“Establishing my dominance,” said Francis, regarding the new neighbors, “letting them know who run things around here…”
And on the ride home while OLeif talked to Gloria on the phone, Collette confirmed her suspicions that OLeif had finally adopted his southern heritage. Apparently the ‘ing’ combination no longer existed in his vocabulary.
In the mail: it was summer. Gas and electric: $148.10. Expectable. And OLeif’s textbooks for seminary. Three of five. For one class.
After Puck was down to snoozeland, and OLeif began a conference call with an old work buddy, Collette popped over to the library for a travel journal on Yemen.
She was not out at night much anymore. That horizon of musty gold was a beautiful thing to see.