Crossing Barriers
There’s something funny about being Cardinals fans. You might have nothing in common with the guy walking across the street – absolute zero – until you find out that guy is a Cardinals fans. Barrier broken. So I guess it shouldn’t have surprised me – although it was kind of funny – when the four biggest Cards fans in the school “conferenced” together on a mild rainy Tuesday morning before staff meeting: the head master, the janitor, the secretary, and the volunteer mom.
When I got back to the Big House around 11:30, Yali was troweling through a plate of sausage and quinoa, pita crackers and spinach dip. The kid has more of a refined taste than I would have guessed.
“MAMA! MAMA! MAMAMA!” he yelled at me when I walked through the door, throwing out both arms in reception.
Again, it might mean a little more if he didn’t call everything “mama”.
He’d had a good morning. Mom took him on a walk. He waved to a police officer down by the old log cabin in the woods behind the elementary school. Some domestic disturbance again. Even in the lands of millionaires.
Violet, Yali, and I escorted Puck downstairs to his classroom later that day to retrieve his thermos. I’m convinced this kid will forget some essential item from his backpack every single day of the week. I’ve been considering laminating a checklist for him to consult every afternoon before leaving class. But I’m guessing he’d probably forget that, too.
It did afford Violet the opportunity to hold Yali a little longer, though. Whenever any of the other girls ask to hold him now, she puts her foot down.
“No! My baby!”
Yali doesn’t seem to mind.
Puck squeezed about an hour out of the afternoon with friends on the street before a cool downpour landed out of the southwest. As we prepared to sit down for dinner, I thought I heard a low rumble of thunder, somewhere. It had been a dull year for storms, not for rain, but definitely storms. And I guess that rain continued up north, too, because the Cardinals found themselves unable to play the second game of their series at PNC Park.
CARDINALS:
Game postponed due to weather; double-header tomorrow.
Magic Number: 2.