Close Enough
Giggling.
WHOOSH!
Puck was trying to hold back his excitement. It was very clear that the surprise he had been keeping for the past fourteen hours was a set of balloons that he and Bær were inflating in the the next room for “Mom’s birthday!” They walked out two minutes later and showered me with the brightly colored globes. This is Snicketts tradition.
So, aside from the fact that my son thinks I just turned ninety, I’d say 29 is a decent age for a girl to be. If anyone actually believes me. I could just say “30”, and be done with it.
Anyway …
“Where did you go for your honeymoon?” Puck asked me later that morning. “Antarctica?”
Sometimes he just gets thoughts.
I probably disappointed him with my answer. “Didn’t quite make it that far, bud. We took a plane to Puerto Rico and sailed around the Caribbean.”
At lunch, I kept my eye on Puck. I usually have to do this if any sort of organic substance is involved. This time it was milk in a precariously balanced glass.
“Puck …”
“Don’t worry, Mom. For some reason, science allows the milk not to go off the cup. Unless it’s going one hundred miles per hour.”
At 1:17, I opened the windows. I think it hit about 60, scudding gray clouds and wind. Perfect.
For dinner, Puck and I switched on “The Misadvantures of Merlin Jones”, another 1960’s Disney never before seen. Puck enjoyed a sub sandwich, and then dug into the trinket odds and ends drawer in the kitchen to create a couple of worlds before bedtime. I guess he did get a part of his mama’s DNA. An hour later he had a floating water box world of islands sitting on the book cube in the living room, cautioning me not to knock the little animals off their floating devices.
At six o’clock, I felt like sending out an invitation to see if anyone took the bait. Spontaneous movie night included Rose on a dinner of Walgreen’s junk food (boasting about beating Ricky (her Christmas party date from church, and Puerto Rico) and her co-worker in Forza), Ricky with sacks of beer, chips, milk, and pop tarts, and Joe and Jaya with an enormous load of Reeses peanut butter cups. Throw in a goofy happy birthday note from Magnus (who couldn’t make the last minute invite), and another viewing of “The Importance of Being Earnest”, and I’d call that a good way to celebrate the old 2-9.