Chinese Checkers

Monday, April 25, 2005

(8:11am) It was one of those Sundays that something just seemed wrong. Saturday hadn’t been too bad – with Carrie passing another exam, the Buckaroo Cafe, Grandma over… but somehow that morning in church had felt very different, as though there was something lurking above, even in the pure sunshine of the day. As usual, Collette attempted to ignore such odd things, and yet it lingered even that Monday morning. Collette decided that the rain coming that afternoon would help smooth things over.

Of course the tension was relieved somewhat during communion when Samantha, who was sitting by Rose, spilt her communion cup all over the floor. She and Rose subsequently burst into stifled giggles. Then Carrie-Bri saw the red puddle and began shaking in laughter herself. Soon, the whole row was trying not to laugh during a rather serious moment of the service. Collette quickly drank her cup before she might choke. Carrie nudged her in the side.

“Boy, you downed that like a shot glass.”

Collette glared at her, still trying not to laugh.

And Sunday afternoon was spent at the Silverspoons with stromboli for lunch and a book of Icelandic sagas, which Denae had found at the library for Collette. And so everyone else played Boggle while Theodore built crate shelves for OLief’s and Collette’s storage shed and Collette read. It was a rather relaxing afternoon, which was pleasant following another busy week.

The afternoon and evening were like any typical Monday. Carrie-Bri made chocolate kiss cookies in the cool of the day and everyone studied while Collette taught and did her laundry. Meanwhile, Rose was being instructed by Mom, once again, to watch what she said.

“That’s it,” Mom said from the kitchen table, to Rose seated before the computer. “I’m starting to charge a fine for every negative adjective that comes out of your mouth.”

It was the latest thing to charge fines for misbehaviors and misdemeanors in the Snicketts household.

“No way am I paying a fine for that,” Rose huffed.

“You most certainly will,” Mom went on. “And you’ll start paying it off by doing housework for Collette if you don’t behave during math class.”

Rose rolled her eyes.

“Yeah,” Collette walked in. “I’ll put you to work sorting OLief’s stinky socks.”

Rose made up her mind to watch her tongue, at least for the following hour.

Meanwhile, Joe and Frances took a lunch break over Indiana Jones. As the great stone city of Petra loomed before Indiana and his faithful minions, Collette explained that the city was, in fact, a real place.

“That,” Collette said, “is the bank.”

“Really? It’s the bank?” Joe looked over from the couch. “I didn’t know they had banks that long ago.”

“Cool!” Frances added. “And that’s really what it looked like inside?”

Collette explained that it was a set, and watched with them as Indiana entered his quest for the chalice.

And then there was a game or two of Chinese checkers in the evening. Frances and Linnea were intent on playing with strategies, despite the fact that they erupted into giggles following every move.

“Aaaaaaaah!” Linnea tumbled her red piece through the air to it’s landing place.

“It’s Peter Pan!” Frances laughed hysterically.

Meanwhile, he helped Joe clean up the kitchen and Mom and Dad debated church issues. Frances lifted a roll of black trash bags off the counter.

“Tootsie roll!,” he said absently to himself, looking at the trash bags.

Upon putting it back under the kitchen sink, he took his trusty fishing rod, (i.e. combat rifle), and returned to the checker board.

“Now,” he began where he left off, “the green guys are the U.S.A.” He pointed to his side of the board. “These,” he pointed to the whites, “are the kookensquishwins. These yellows are the Germans.”

Giggle, giggle.

“Keep it down in there,” Dad called from the living room.

“These are the idiots,” Linnea pointed delightedly to the black pieces.

“And these are the hot chili peppers,” he indicated lastly to the blues.

Giggle, giggle.

“Collette, can you have them stop laughing?”

“Yes, Dad. Guys, shhhhhhhhh.”

“Parachute!” Linnea catapulted one of her blues through the air, as she was playing two sides. “Yay!”

They played a minute somewhat quietly before Linnea had a very important question to ask. “I wonder how many people can fit in Lincoln’s nose.”

She spoke in reference to Mount Rushmore as Frances explained, through giggles.

Linnea once again returned to her red Chinese.

“The Chinese can use this,” she exclaimed as the piece went flying across the board.

“That’s because China is so far behind in technology,” Frances finished.

They roared in giggles. Collette put her head in her hands, laughing in disbelief, realizing the game had ended.

OLief came shortly later to see a clip of the pig olympics, courtesy of Rose. And then they left to pick up chicken for dinner and discussed frustrations while watching an antique special on a two-hundred fifty year old pewter chocolate pot.