China Tightens Laws
Friday, March 9, 2007
It was just about time for OLeif to get another hair cut; Collette couldn’t recall ever before having seen it so long. In fact, she could gather it into a little ponytail in the back.
Meanwhile, it was just about that time again for a madrigal dinner. OLeif had been requested to guest-conduct their traditional “silly song” somewhere in the middle of the performance. He had been gathering ideas on how, exactly, his character would act for the performance. But he wasn’t so sure he had the time, this year, to come up with a new character. The first two madrigal dinners he conducted the choir as a student, being the narrator and court jester of the whole ceremony. This years’ theme apparently somehow centered around bugs, according to Rose. And once again, Mom was on the decorating committee as she had been every year since the first attempt, six years ago.
It was close to spring – it felt like spring.
When Collette dropped OLeif off at work that morning, he told her that the four or so tractor trailers parked in the parking lot on the other side of the building were supposedly housing Girl Scout cookies. It could have been their distribution center – there must have been tens of thousand of cookies stationed inside them.
Later, Gholden and the two youngest of her crew came through the office to fold bulletins. Claudette showed up shortly later.
This was about the same time that OLeif sent Collette a message letting her know that he went with the guys to lunch at Red Robin, claiming he needed a break from the office. And not only was he IT helpdesk manager for the whole company, but he had also unofficially been solicited to be the official graphic designer for the company.
Still, Red Robin only capped off the top of a lengthy fast-food list for the week. Collette wondered how the IT staff could manage to eat out almost every single day. At least OLeif typically brought his own lunch. She recalled the good old bank days when every person on staff (except for herself) would leave for fast food and a soda every single day. She sometimes wondered if the lunch room existed solely for herself. No wonder America always needed bigger paychecks… and to pay the bill for the kidney stones, morbid a thought as it was.
Later in the afternoon, it started to rain – a cool refreshing spring rain.
Meanwhile, Jimmy was telling Collette about how China had just passed new laws regarding adoption. Not only could foreigners over 50 not adopt Chinese children, but they could not be taking antidepressants, and their BMI could not be greater than 40. Interesting…
Near closing time, Collette heard a “Surprise!” as Rose burst up the stairs into the office, followed closely behind by Joe. They had stopped on the way back from madrigal rehearsal, which also gave them the opportunity to show Collette Joe’s new pair of Oakley sunglasses, purchased with Hawaii in mind. They stayed to gab a few minutes and with Jimmy, and left soon after, but not before leaving such quotables as “Joe is the best” and, “I ate a big fat pig with an apple in its mouth, and it oinked11111” on her open Word document.
Diana was coming back that weekend, six weeks after her last visit.
That evening, OLeif insisted on a date night, despite the fact that Collette wanted to clean things. But there was always the next day. And besides, it was fun to get out on a rainy evening with OLeif.
After a crowded and noisy dinner at Cracker Barrel, OLeif picked up a few movies, a box of Bottlecaps for Collette, and a “Chunky Monkey” ice cream for himself, which seemed to be just about his favorite flavor.
And the rain continued to mist here and there.