First Half Down

Sending El Oso off to work from an already warm front porch in his Star Wars Angry Bird jams, Puck entertained himself by singing over and over to himself:

“Oopa gang-gum styl’! Oopa gang-gum styl’!”

I knew he was trying to imitate the often-annoying Korean smash hit “Oppa Gangnam Style.” Fortunately, we don’t know anyone who speaks Korean, so if the lyrics are somehow offensive, he’s not actually offending anybody. That I know of.

Anyway, I found him halfway through breakfast – if I’m not on top of things, he’ll just take care of it himself – sitting at the breakfast table with his new bicycle helmet from Gloria strapped on his head. He’s all about the bike since Friday now.

It was a scorcher. Temps only in the 90’s, but heat index powering over 100. Clearly none of the neighbor kids felt like biking the street in such conditions, so Puck and I talked about Babylon and Egypt and number charts instead.

We walked the neighborhood after dinner sandwiches, Puck sawing away at the bike pedals, while I tried to keep up. He chugged past some friends walking with wedges of watermelons. The boy, who I didn’t recognize, apparently knew Puck.

“Hey, Calvin. You’re rockin’ those kicks!”

I don’t know if Puck knew what he meant, but I’m pretty sure it had something to do with those neon orange laces.

Fortunately for all of us, El Oso – who originally thought he might be at work till midnight – was able to return about eight o’clock instead. He called after picking up his refurbished bike from Grenada to talk to Puck. They had morning plans for bike trails.

“DAD! We can go on a REAL bike trail tomorrow morning, right?”

“Yes. We’ll go to the park.”

“But on a REAL bike trail, right?”

“Yes, son. A real bike trail.”

“But a really REALLY REALLY REAL bike path? That men ride?”

“Yes, son, a real bike path that men ride.”

Puck was satisfied, and in good conscience hit the feathers, hoping for strong thunderstorms in the night.