Ch. 239; Vol. 10

Squeak, squeak, squeak. Tell-tale floorboards. It wasn’t too early or anything, but Puck in his too-small blue jam pants tip-toed into my room anyway…

“Go back to sleep!” he whispered loudly.

And he wasn’t fooling anything. I knew he was looking for the iPad.

Banged my head against a concrete wall for an hour that morning, digging up names that weren’t the names I was looking for. Bær rewarded us with Chick-Fil-A for lunch because sometimes it’s ok to celebrate 9th wedding anniversaries all week long. [I explain the chocolate bars.] While he took Puck in the truck to gather sustenance, I detached Crackers from the kitchen window shade where she had once again clawed herself in. She thanked me with a bloody scratch on my wrist. As we concluded lunch, I handed half of my chicken sandwich to Bær, full. Puck wasn’t pleased.

In his best loud whisper… “Give it back to her, Dad! She barely eats anything… but chocolate!”

I protest. Out of concern for my health, Puck removed the French fries…

“You are abandoned – ” BURP “ – from this junk food!”

Snatch.

“What makes it junk food, Puck?”

“Liquid and stuff.”

Also in celebration of Number Nine, three five dollars tickets: section 132B: up at the railing.

“He looks like the kid from Close Encounters,” the woman next to me nodded at Puck.

I had to admit I’d never seen it.

Puck got himself on the big screen a few innings later, waving docilely and sweetly at the camera behind Buck stashed in his drink holder.

Spontaneous applause as the Pirates’ loss to Milwaukee flashed on the screen. Where else would this happen?

Between a walk up to “see the city” and a Cards helmet stuffed with buttered popcorn, the boys were getting goofy…

“What are you playing?”

“Rock, Paper, Scissors, Bacon, Butter.”

Boos. Someone was considering holding on to Shin-Soo Choo’s 100th home run ball. Cheers and applause as they tossed it back onto the field.

The homeless lady we often see at the park, asking for cash, and Puck wanted to know why…

“If I had my piggy bank, I could give her some.”

He was also determined to pay me back for buying his ticket and popcorn…

“There will be a surprise waiting for you when we get home, Mom.”

When we drove up after eleven, the sleepy kid in the back said, “My bones have turned to jelly, I’m so tired.”

After his teeth were brushed, he pressed a moldy penny into my hand…

“I couldn’t get anymore out of my piggy bank. It was stuck.”

Sweet boy.