Eastery Things
Yali held up a small blueberry pancake with both hands and made it growl at Mom. We were halfway through a 9:15 brunch at church that cold Easter morning, and Yali showed no signs of slacking on stuffing himself. His appetite begins to rival Puck’s.
Eventually, I brought the squirming two year-old back to Puck’s boys’ club in the 2-5 year-old Sunday School room where he and his buddy, Bub – South African 8th grader – were busy discussing life as usual. Bub had questions about my book which his sister had been reading.
After awhile he asked me politely, “Mrs. Collette? I don’t mean to be rude, but did you put any cursing in your book?”
I held back a smile, because I could see he meant it seriously. “No, Bub. I did not put any cursing in my book.”
“Mrs. Collette? Do you think it’s okay to have cursing in books and movies though?”
Oh boy.
“I guess it depends on the situation.”
That one might come back to bite me…
Rain was coming. Back at the Big House, Rose, Francis, and Irish ran around the yard hiding Easter eggs for the kids before it arrived.
Several minutes later, Puck stood poised on the edge of the patio, basket in hand. “IN THREE, TWO, ONE! GO!”
It wasn’t exactly a running start. Both boys began meandering around a full acre of land, hunting up 50 plastic eggs.
“This… might take awhile…” I realized aloud.
“That’s the problem,” Carrie agreed. “There’s no competition. When we were kids it was every man for himself. We were lucky if we got three eggs apiece!”
Some time later, the final count was in: 47 eggs accounted for, 3 MIA.
Extended family rolled in around three o’clock: Grandma, Uncle Mo and Aunt Petunia, Uncle Bobs and Aunt Day recently back from Australia. I was already feeling sleepy, and Uncle Bobs’ nice and easy Down Under accent certainly promoted that. I wasn’t complaining. Thumper also joined the party, with her family being up in Michigan.
Light rain fell during an early dinner. Conversations regarding the family’s recent adventures in kidney stones and shoulder surgery, Uncle Mo coming back out of retirement to help immigrants adjust to the U.S., and other Eastery things…