Ch. 247; Vol. 10
A tiring night of tornadoes and questions.
My son – after falling out of the bed at midnight; never seems to bother him – infomercialed Legos to me over the chocolate yogurt he just had to try but didn’t actually like at all…
“Or you could try lifesavers.com [light sabers]… Which is a compuuuuter game. Or… which most people don’t let their children tryyyy … because it hurts their eyeeeeballs… sooner or later. And I’m not kidding. It will hurt your eyeballs if you used it too loooong. I’m not kidding. And… the fifty thousand waaaays you can do this stuff is pretty dangerous, because it can hold human eyebaaaalls. Playing on electronics.”
Packed off Bær with a Tupperware of two avocados and a fat, cold peach.
“What madness is this?”
Chocolate Long Johns.
Someone had my name in their Black Book. Obviously. And apparently that person was Francis, who had already requested help trimming his beard before College and Work. “Beard”. It takes awhile.
Half an hour in the way-too-big black skates, Puck pushing himself along with a large stick in the white gravel.
Island of the Blue Dolphins? Caddie Woodlawn? The Long, Long Trailer? Carrie had successfully applied Youtube to Roku. And even though the day wasn’t hot, we watched Karana in the North Pacific. Because it was a Wednesday, and we could.
I ate half a Chocolate Long John.
Braided Linnea’s hair into – what I like to call – The Mongolian Serpent, and discussed the complicated tangle of Junior Year existence. Puck occasionally skated in, not meaning to intrude…
“I hate to be a pest, but…”
“I hate to keep bothering you, but…”
“I’m sorry to keep pestering you, Mom. But Snuggles is batting at a creature under the laundry basket. And then he will – chomp! – on whatever’s in there.”
Shadow creatures.
Caddie Woodlawn with bagel dogs for lunch.
“Come on, Puck. Let’s have you ride your bike.”
“I CAN’T, MOM! I DON’T WANT TO GO TO THE EMERGENCY STATION!!!!”
I made him take two laps anyway. Learning to swim, ride a bike, operating a swing… these things just have to be done sooner or later. I don’t really know why; for the last two, anyway. So as in order not to shock people, I suppose. Basic knowledge is prized above most things here: like knowing that Canada is the country to the north, George Washington was the first president, all of that plastic-y stuff.
Snuggles attacked a powdered sugar donut. Like a squirrel. Disgusting animal.
Linnea sniffled in black sweats and volleyball hoodie: late summer cold.
Puck blew up balloons and let them fly, zipping into backs and faces for a laugh. I think he was laughing more than I was.
Walgreen’s for Linnea: ankle brace, bobby pins. Watering the blue hydrangeas with the old brown mixing bowl which we’ve tasted hundreds of brownie mixes in over the years.
Mom at a parents’ choir meeting in Lake St. Louis.
Carrie pounding away with hammer and nails in the bathroom, iTunes on the laptop.
Busy bees.
Puck pulled out the coffee table [a.k.a “Korean”] for our dinner and set it with bowls, spoons, and knives…
“So we can have our Chinese dinner!”
Peaches, peanuts, buttered bread, and lentil stew.
We roll high.
Carrie and Mom had an overnight trip that evening: Columbia. Carrie called me up to find a Rally’s Burgers nearby. There were none. I could hear the disappointment.
I could also hear the disappointment in Bær’s voice when I mentioned the lentils were not even quite a stew, but just lentils.
