Change of Scenery

COUGH! Cough, cough, cough.

Puck grinned at me over the tops of my Mother’s Day flowers, somehow having miraculously survived intact a record-breaking seven days. “I got your plant sick,” he told me, almost satisfactorily.

It was an unconventional Sunday. To boot things off at church – the one time Linnea-Irish wore jeans and a Lions Volleyball t-shirt to church because of her CERT class following services – she was called up in front of the congregation in recognition of her high school graduation.

“Mom!” Puck leaned over to me right before the sermon with a confession. “I had five donuts before church!”

About an hour later, everyone split ways for work in Maryland Heights, CERT in Troy, Bunny House in Fenton, boating on Indian Creek Lake, a wedding in St. Charles, and a birthday party in Wentzville.

At two o’clock, Puck walked off down the street lugging an enormous gift bag filled with a single basketball for Eddie’s 10th birthday celebration a couple of houses away.

Three hours later, he returned with an armload of snack-sized bags of Doritos.

Eight o’clock.

This time, I could tell Puck was hiding something, tucked in under the covers. He was wrapped up in his blanket, arms concealed. His hostage was revealed during the prayer.

“Dear Jesus, thank you for giving us a wonderful day today and thank you for my baby brother in Colombia and PLEASE LET MY SUCCESSFUL SNATCH OF MOM’S PURSE GO WELL! AH HA HA HA HA HA!”

The purse was eventually re-confiscated, albeit mostly an empty shell to begin with. It was the thrill of the hunt, I guess.

Meanwhile, as Puck caught some snores, I migrated to the basement to finish a book on keeping score, eventually followed by Oxbear with a plate of chicken nuggets for the game.

“…in the words of the late Red Smith, ‘every game is a new game, different from any other that’s ever been played’ … it is my privilege to record this unique event in a simple, written language that encompasses the infinite variety of baseball.”

– The Joy of Keeping Score