Back in the Swing

“AAH!”

Puck came out thrashing like a windmill, hiding behind his bedroom door. I guess he thought that was a fantastic idea at 6:30 in the morning when I walked into his room to wake him up. Fortunately for me, his mama doesn’t scare easy. Fortunately for him, I can take a joke.

Puck breakfasted at the table, trying to understand how his new top worked. I saw them both at the antique shop in Rochester – two wood tops that spun longer than most tops I had ever spun. All my experience spinning tops. Sold. It made Puck a little grumpy, but once he figured it out, he thought it was a pretty decent idea.

Carrie and I were recording Linnea-Irish’s haiku for the podcast in Dad’s basement.

“I have to buy a laptop,” she said, as we fiddled with switches and cords. “So I told Mom I was going to get a Mac. And she said, ‘You should probably talk to your sisters about that first, Linnea. I hear Apples are much better.’ Then when I explained it to her, she asked if they had Golden Delicious. To be funny.”

And of course after our recording session, Carrie left her signature calling card for Dad – gum wad on an index card on his laptop keyboard.

Meanwhile, Francis was an honest-to-goodness grease monkey in the garage, Frankensteining Oxbear’s busted truck back to life. Piece by piece.

“We’re having a playdate on Saturday, prob’ly,” Puck informed me as we walked down the hall together, swinging the stuffed backpack on his back. “We planned it. It’s going to be at our house. We’ll have popcorn and pretzels.”

We talked.

Puck turned sentimental as we wound up the back road to the Big House. Tomorrow was the 100th day of school, and he was looking ahead to missing Second Grade with Mr. V.

“It’s been a great year,” he said. “I wish I hadn’t liked it so much. Then it wouldn’t have gone so fast.”

Puck – always snack-hungry – prowled the kitchen with Dad for goodies.

“Grandma, can I have a snack?”

“Sure, Puck! Want some blueberries?”

“How about a sucker?” Dad offered.

The sucker won.