Beautiful Rain

Sunday, July 2, 2011
In which Sunday’s day of indulgent opulence is well-appreciated by nearly all those involved…

The day was already boiling.
Another heat advisory.

Over at the house…
Puck was exchanging kisses for raisins from his Sun.
“How many kisses do you intend to have?”
“Well, I don’t know. It’s a secret.”
“That’ll cost you about three and a half kisses. One. Two. Three. Four. Aw. You gave me four. You have to subtract a half.”
He then began to give out shoulder massages with Carrie-Bri’s instruction.
It was also noted by Carrie that Puck and Rose were both wearing octopus t-shirts and plaid.

Dinner.
Carrie had made quiche (or zucchini pie), zucchini muffins, sweet potatoes, and strawberry cheesecake.
Dad was singing-without-thinking as usual: Jesus Paid it All and Spiderman.
And there was discussion of how to best dispose of the Japanese beetles in the bags outside which were slathering the trees once again.
“Couldn’t we just run the fifteen-passenger van over them and put them out of their misery?” Carrie asked.
“Cyanide,” said Rose.

While Mom and Dad napped, everyone else caught up on everything else. And…
“Puck, why don’t you go snuggle with Rose,” Carrie recommended.
“I can’t snuggle with Rose,” Puck replied seriously. “She doesn’t like it.”
“Well, that’s the whole point,” Carrie replied with a grin.
“Not the real super whole point. I have that in my head,” Puck replied.

Mom, Collette, and Linnea departed next to make preparations for the following afternoon.
McDonald’s drop-in for Mom’s and Linnea’s various coffee-based drinks. To Collette’s chagrin, she noted the evil additions of mango-pineapple smoothies and Rolo McFlurries, of which in neither she partook.
Dollar Store for toss-away aluminum trays. Collette also noted a sign in the window advertising New York strips, $1.50 apiece. When the dollar store starts selling steak…
Bed Bath & Beyond to return a fitted sage corduroy slipcover for the loveseat, where Mom had also ordered a cake stand for Janek’s wedding the following Sunday.
JoAnn’s Fabrics to check out their selection of silks, $19.99-$24.99 a yard…
As they went into Costco, the storm was beginning to build up. A quick run-around for boxes of berries, chocolate-chocolate chip muffins, and seven rotisserie chickens. They loaded up the Fit in the wind with the sculpted undercurls of flashing gray boiling above them. The rain hit as they left the parking lot, and continued in heavy sheets and crashing and smashing on the way home, to Dierberg’s for corn (where a jolly big young chap with a golf umbrella escorted customers to their cars), and back to the house.
Dad and the girls were busy watching beach volleyball while Mom and Carrie began deboning all the chickens for the celebration the following afternoon.
Carrie was holding Earnest down with the temptation of carrot, while Rose trimmed his nails. Joe found the scissors later and pretended to be sitting at a salon…
“Tell it to me, sistah…”
“Hey, those are not for human use. Bunny only.”
“Too late. I was trimming my teeth with them earlier.”
And a pizza run for Mom and Dad, wherein they also returned with bottles of Mane & Tail shampoo and conditioner.

At the table, the usual ruckus, topics, laughter, and ridiculous behavior. Such topics included: bald men, the stranger sitting next to Linnea in church that morning, and Mom’s suggestions of talents for the youth talent show the following winter. Joe, however, apparently was thinking of something entirely different…
“Hey, Mom, you should be more worried about getting Holly married off…”
“What?” Carrie said. “They don’t auction people off there, Joe. I’m not that desperate.”
Dad and Joe got themselves into a slap-punch duke-it-out.
Following Little Caesar’s, Dad and Carrie battled it out over the option of dessert.
“Ice cream,” said Dad.
“Dad! Calories.”
“I have one day a week where I eat what I want.”
“And yesterday you had five tacos.”
“It’s ice cream time.”
Fifteen minutes later, everyone but Carrie and Rose, found themselves at Culver’s.

And in other news, Violet Gentles’ second baby had been born before nine o’clock that morning. A little girl.