Ch. 249; Vol. 10

Bær was already gone: 7:00 appointment: The Original Pancake House: M&M’s brother-in-law.

St. Louis is a small world.

I heard Puck whispering Calvin-style menacingly over his Lego people. “A triceratops invaded the elementary school.”

Considering that Puck doesn’t even know what an elementary school is, I’d say we’re doing pretty well.

We were at the park by 9:44. A mom and three young punks rolled in after us.

Puck was practically dancing down the aisles of Schnuck’s with his “Customer in Training” lime green grocery cart, coasting past shiny bags of chips to the hazy tune of “Istanbul (Not Constantinople)”.

Three high-bouncers at Old Navy.

A returned Toy Story 2 disc, cracked [not by Puck], to the library.

Chippewa Travelers on Spotify, a stack of The Berenstain Bears, Grilled Cheese: Puck lives the life.

For “Mama”: trim Crackers’ nails, brush Crackers’ fur, wet wipe Cracker’s fur, shower the son, cook the rice.

You know… Mom stuff.

Puck came tearing through the house right before that late afternoon shower, yelling, “ALAN WAINRIGHT!!!!”

“Who?”

“You know. It’s a baseball player.”

Cricket, cricket.

Clearly. I had work to do.

It had been awhile, but Rose had returned for Cape Cod White Cheddar Popcorn, Trader Joe’s Cookie Butter w/ Pretzel Chips [well, that was for me], and The Sapphires. While Joe was out with buddies and bike helmets and movies and stuff, and Carrie with Grewe before driving back to Nebraska. Is life just busier than it was six decades ago? Rose wrapped a cranky Crackers into her arms, fresh from work.

“Hi, Onion!” A naughty still-awake Puck from his room.

“Hi, Bud. Guess who I’m holding?”

“…A squirrel?”

“No…”

“A mouse?”

“What eats mice?”

“An owl?”

“It has fur.”

“Owls have fur!”

“Ok, I guess it eats bugs, too.”

“…An ant eater?”

“It’s Crackers! I’m holding Crackers!”

Puck made up for this mental error by wandering into the living room with the eggplant blanket over his head to spook his aunt, eating dinner…

“Ooooh! A purple ghost. The worst kind!” …and incidentally ran into her… “Aw, you dented my cheeseburger!”