Good Citizen
Tuesdays are my workhorse days now, about as workhorse as a mom under 30 can get in Ladue and Kirkwood.
Ladue: One hour of running messages, a 4th grader with “achy teeth,” an icepack for a preschooler, and baseball-talk with the Head of School, Secretary, and Maintenance Worker. Also learned that the lady who works the front desk is Mohican. She noticed my fringed moccasins; she has the same pair.
Kirkwood: Ditto St. Louis, an upscale resale shop erected to provide tuition assistance for local private schools. All parents asked to volunteer. I signed myself in for whatever they wanted me to do. Five minutes in and an elderly British customer asked where he might find the khaki shorts. And so began my first experience in retail.
By the time I had distributed, redistributed, hung, and tagged three racks of clothing, my two hours were up and I left with a $4.60 bright red Cardinals World Series 2006 hoodie for Puck. I suddenly had an easy answer to his monthly growth spurts.
Puck and I watched storm clouds gathering in the west on the drive home. It was about time again, even in September.
“I think I see a hammerhead up there,” Puck told me scientifically, meaning anvil cloud, of course.
After Puck had stuffed himself to popping with cod, sweet potato, cucumbers, and Andy Griffith, the storm hit. Ground rich with rain.
Puck pulled out his box of scented markers for another art session on the couch while I read The Happy Hollisters to him. Although he was already doing a fine job of narrating his adventures in black licorice and cherry on paper, as good as his own PBS cooking program.
“The cinnamon does a nice touch, don’t you think Mom? And a little hint of mint, and a little hint of thiiiis… And banana…”
Heavy rain at home, watching Bill Dewitt, Jr. eat pepperoni pizza from the stands while Wacha-Wacha unraveled at Great American Ballpark. Can’t win ’em all.
It did get bad enough for Carrie-Bri to text me, “If I were McDreamy, I would call the game and walk off the field. Too embarrassing. Or tell Yadi to handle it and call me in the morning.”
Puck’s Monthly What-do-You-Want-to-be-When-You-Grow-Up Status:
“A Scientist. Or a Artist.”