Goodbye, Chompers

Friday, February 25, 2011

The world was white again. The powdered sugar lumped on every branch sort.

Over at the house…
Mom had dollar solar-powered daisies dancing in the kitchen windows.
She and Joe were at the dental surgeon.
Carrie was cooking homemade pasta.
Francis was raiding the chocolate chip Pop Tarts just before Portuguese.
And Rose and Puck were rummaging through the cardboard box of old long-lost VHS tapes.

Meanwhile…
Francis was busy getting Trooper and Snuggles to nap on the couch together.
“Yeah,” said Carrie, “they’ve been excluding Pumpkin a lot lately. The two of them always goof around. Then Trooper’s always trying to pounce on Pumpkin and scare her, which of course works.”
Then they began to discuss the various surgeries within the family, chiefly wisdom teeth extracture.
“You’ve had all the weird ones, Francis,” said Carrie.
“Yeah, remember the time that tooth was growing into my nose?”
“Awgh!” Carrie exclaimed. “I had blocked that from my memory!”
“I guess you wouldn’t have all the girls chasing after you if you hadn’t had that taken care of,” Collette teased him.
“Didn’t know I had a tooth in my nose, did you?” Francis said with a grin.
“What now?” Carrie added. “O, that? Don’t worry about it. It’s just a tooth in my nose.”
And…
The cupboards were bare.
“I’m going to have to make beer bread again,” said Carrie. Then she grinned. “Francis hates this stuff.”
Linnea, however, sat down to a bowl of stuffing for her lunch.

Just before eleven, Mom and Joe returned.
The drugged creature walked robotically to his room in the basement, retrieved his laptop, returned to the living room, and promptly fell asleep on the couch.
Then Mom announced her intention to visit Walgreen’s for supplies and medicine.
“Walgreen’s? Yes!” both Carrie and Rose exclaimed.
“I need a loofah and a dozen eggs.”
“And my fizzy eye cleaner!”

Into the afternoon…
For the first time in his life, OLeif locked the keys in the car, so Collette, Francis, and Puck drove down Collette’s set, and Puck handed his daddy a package of Swedish Fish through the open window.
Rose got a call to confirm her once-a-month assistance with communion at church.
Out for hair dye. Strawberry blonde and golden blonde. It certainly wasn’t Collette’s favorite by any stretch, but it was easier to take care of. Or not take care of, such as things were.
OLeif started feeling badly in the afternoon and went home. Standing in hot rooms all day at a conference, too much dark coffee, bad nights of sleep, etc…
Reservations in Venice.
The mail arrived: dark red and blue shawl from Thailand, and ties for Dad.
“This was supposed to be pink,” said Carrie doubtfully, pulling a pale purple tie from the box.
And Francis’ awaited credit card had arrived, emblemed with the space shuttle at lift-off.
“Dad custom-designed it for me,” he said importantly.
He was, in every way, a little Luther Snicketts.
Project ‘Contracts’ was going full-steam ahead, Carrie’s and Collette’s official titles being: Executive Recruiters.

Movie night commenced without Joe, who was still holed up on the couch with ice packs around his face. He had been pampered well enough and was even wearing Victoria’s Secret Very Berry Lip Gloss to prevent chapping.

So it was Charade back home with OLeif (who withdrew early for the evening due to sore throat and headache), Magnus, and Rose. Magnus had brought guacamole chips with cheddar cheese dip, Fig Newtons (OLeif was a very happy man), Raisinets, and Starburst. And on to the evening of Hitchcock.

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Jamie Larson
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