Better Happenings

Saturday, April 16, 2005

Friday, as it turned out, had been more than enough to make up for the terror of Thursday, thanks to Carrie-Bri. And all seemed settled back to normal, for the time being.

Thus things became busy once again. The first order of business, following work, was to dress for the dance, though Carrie was still dragging her feet. However, they all managed to make themselves presentable, the three girls in swishing skirts, Rose in cloud pink, Carrie in a mix of Indian colors and mirrors, and Collette in peppermint red with sequined belts and colored glass necklaces. Plus, a box of cookies was brought to add to the refreshment table. Joe was gone with friends for the evening, and was unable to attend or watch the kids. So Grandma Combs had come over to watch them, and Francis would barbecue on his little camp stove for the three of them.

On the way, they dropped by to see Uncle Clarence at home, who was in the process of re-wood working the floor, which was now mostly down in a honey color with two strips of colored wood running the perimeter of the room – one in evergreen and the other in oxblood.

But more importantly, Uncle Clarence was feeling quite well. Schroeder ran downstairs to grab an extra chair as they filed in. And Mom had brought an angel food cake and strawberries, that being Uncle Clarence’s favorite. (But Aunt Julia was gone running errands, and Samwise was at a lacrosse game.) Though Mabel was there, looking happy with new company, the little white fluff ball of a dog.

There was a nice forest of flowers on the floor, and Uncle Clarence discussed the procedure, looking over at Carrie once in awhile to be sure she wasn’t too queasy. Dad had managed to say in the first five minutes, all the embarrassing things Carrie had specifically asked him not to bring up:

“Well, Clarence, I almost came to the wrong house. I remember Mom telling me you had just got a red car. And so we see this bright red car in the house next door, and I said, ‘I didn’t know they had a BMW.’”

There were chuckles.

“And then we look in the garage and said, ‘Oh, they have a Mercedes too!’”

There were laughs all around as Carrie groaned in embarrassment.

Then Dad went on, “Well, we can’t stay long, Clarence. We have Carrie’s Senior Dance – English Country Dancing.”

And then later, “Carrie’s pretty queasy about these things, Clarence,” as Uncle Clarence began to describe the surgery.

“Well, you know, both Julia and I are as well. But for some reason this time, it didn’t bother me. I don’t like to hear about someone else having heart surgery, but because it was me, it hasn’t bothered me.”

Carrie sighed and put her hands to her face, shaking her head. She would discuss the matter later with Dad.

But the dance went off well enough. The Englishs were there and the Oranges. The Englishs had brought along Nana and Grandpa from Arkansas. And Bing was in his element, dancing, as he was writing a period piece. Rose was his first partner.

And fortunately, Mrs. English had brought a small photo album of the new Taiwanese baby. He was certainly adorable, and they hoped to have him home by July seventeenth. It was amazing how quickly they would have another little one in the home. It was practically impossible for Collette to imagine the Englishs only having one or two kids left at home, but one day it would come, when Diana was going on forty. How odd!

Mr. Tutankhamen led the dances. OLeif overheard him telling of how he had just sold an old violin for fifteen hundred dollars, and would use the money to travel to Nicaragua for mission work. Most of his family still lived there, his grandparents having been missionaries in that part of the world long ago.

When asked by Mr. English if the country was still unstable, being in South America and such, Mr. Tutankhamen replied… that he wasn’t sure about that. Nicaragua was a poor country. They were used to their way of living and had been doing so for so long. After all, he reasoned, life goes on. It struck Collette when OLeif told her about it – they always considered themselves as Americans, to be looked upon as the greatest powers in the world, the best-clothed, best-fed, best-cared-for creatures on earth. And perhaps they were, but the people of such poor countries were so used to living as they were, and to carrying on life as it had always been, that it was as normal and as dignified as if they had been living in the St. Louis suburbs all their lives, with a Lutheran church down the street, a Walgreens across the block, and a Sonic around the corner.

Meanwhile, Justus Orange came over to the three girls as they ate chocolate kiss cookies. There was a tale to discuss. Rose had just been relating her story of how she had dropped her jar of leeches on the foot of an old woman at the marketplace of the madrigal dinner.

“She was like, ‘Ooooh!’ And it barely touched her foot,” Rose was explaining. “She was kind of grumpy.”

It was then they realized that it was likely the exact same old lady’s foot that Justus had stepped on while welcoming guests in his overly boisterous manner – pure acting, of course.

Carrie nearly choked with laughter over her glass of strikingly red punch.

“I’ll bet it’s the same one,” she managed.

Justus guffawed, “Yeah, so I was like, ‘Oh, I’m so sorry. Here – let me sing you a song!’ And she said, ‘No, no. I don’t want a song.’ And she just wasn’t too happy.”

They all had a good laugh over the thought of the little grumpy old woman.

“That’s too good,” Justus laughed aloud. “We make a good team, Rose.”

And the evening ended mostly good, although Carrie felt quite bad, after Bing had asked her to dance, and she had to decline, as they were leaving. It was sad to miss the opportunity to dance with her old BBBF at their senior dance. It was a “darn!” moment.

Saturday morning had come with Dad, Joe, and Francis, attending a men’s breakfast at church, while Grandma Combs, Mom, and all the girls enjoyed breakfast at Cracker Barrel with stories and laughings. Then, of course, there was another youth meeting for OLeif, Joe, and Rose, and then OLeif and Joe went to spread more mulch at an elderly couple’s house from church. Ice cream and sodas were provided, however, which helped the tiring afternoon pass more quickly.