Chapter Ninety
So… another year, another Easter, a small handful of kids running around a deserted sanctuary collecting plastic eggs at church which I’m… not sure what that has to do with church anyway… And tables packed with brownies, cookies, and bright colors of sugar and frosting. I just have a hard time reconciling plastic eggs, wrapped candy, and felt cut-outs of tombs. It just doesn’t work for me. And some of us made it to church. Joe was with Jaya at the Silverspoon’s church. Rose… was at work.
The congregation is pretty much on autopilot with the applause these days. They applaud everything. They clap for things I’m not even sure you can clap for. And if I hear one. more. “frozen chosen” joke from the pulpit…
I don’t hold grudges.
Chocolate appeases. On some level.
“Here, Mom,” Puck would tell me sweetly from time to time.
– He handed me a foil-wrapped chocolate. –
“EAT IT!”
I don’t need the Caps Lock for encouragement. And it shows. But I’m also not a fan of diets, so I can forget about that idea too.
We all crashed around the living room for some time until Uncle Mo drove up in his new blue Elantra and Joe tagged a ride. We talked a little bit about a potential road trip in the summer. Michigan. Maine. Something like that. Rose brought out the human shoulder bone that she had dug up in the Bahamas. She and Dad argued for awhile about that…
“It’s petrified.”
“No, fossilized.”
“Petrified.”
“Fossilized.”
It was sort of green…
“It was in a tide pool.”
Grandma Combs wanted to make a space ship out of it. Linus suggested pirates.
Puck wanted me to help him pull green apple out of his teeth after he played a few rounds of UNO with The Bear.
Carrie tried to squish Rose and Linnea, which usually works. At one point Puck was sitting on Carrie, who was sitting on Rose.
“Sun! You’re cutting off her blood flow! Get off! I’ll sit on her instead!”
Grandma had all the buns’ pictures pasted on the Easter cake. Puck passed out bowls of candy and chocolates before his third egg hunt of the 24 hours which included miniatures of Mead notebooks, tape dispensers, donut erasers, glitter putty, etc. Dad and Uncle Mo reviewed the wedding dates of all their high school buddies.
Everyone talked about bugs and spiders and things after dinner, because Lucia had been given a fat blue and white sign from Grandma reading – “Butterflies Welcome”. Erin thinks butterflies are creepy.
“You’re just weird,” Aunt Petunia laughed at her.
They played Catchphrase, or as Rose promoted it – “Red Hot Chili Pepper Parades” with a New Orleans accent, or what I would presume is a New Orleans accent. I really don’t know why. And though I don’t play games, I have a good time listening to the riot. Besides, holidays with the Combs are always pretty easy, just family. Besides, I had to catch up on the news surrounding Lance Berkman’s official-official Rangers debut in Houston. Puck marched through the living room…
“Did you eat all that cake?” The Bear asked him, worried about the large quality of the cake slices.
“Yes, Dad. I ate it all. I ate it like a man.”
His arms were swinging as he walked past, looking at us sideways. Then he paused and thought…
“Well… I ate it with my hands…”