Goofy Things People Do

Puck walked Yali up and down the frozen food aisles at Dierberg’s that morning, stopping to check out the stuffed Darth Vaders, while I waited in line at the florist within viewing distance. Both boys wore their red wellies since it had rained in the night, stomping the floor tiles, hunting for anything interesting. I figured frozen foods at least meant the merchandise was safe from Yali behind glass doors.

Over at the Big House, Mom had found thousands of Elmer’s and Francis’ old Legos, which she sanitized in the bathtub before placing in giant Tupperware boxes. A tubful of Legos is a dream come true for either of these boys, and they took full advantage.

Francis got back early from class to join in assembling circuits with Puck; we could always hear the rumble of his blue Toyota Tacoma roar down the street.

“Why’d you get back so soon?” Mom asked.

“Because I had a teacher who got tired of teaching us,” Francis explained, as if this was a common occurrence.

“I would, too,” Carrie-Bri said, “if all I had was a class of stinky boys like you.”

It was after four o’clock. Diane, the eight year-old with some sass in an aqua Star Wars hoodie from two houses down the street, was playing with Yali in the living room.

“Yeah, so I’m probably the smartest kid in my class.”

“You are?”

“Yeah. Everyone thinks I’m so smart, and cool, and clever.”

“They do, huh?”

“And I do shows for a living. Like choir and piano and … my room is also very clean. I’m actually a cleaning person. No one believes me at school, but my room is immaculate.”

With Elmer and Jaya still in the Bahamas and Rose a member of Trivia Night at her church, it was down to just five movie night participants that evening. Carrie and Irish walked in with a plate of homemade buckeyes just behind Francis who was laughing about a recent Donald Trump rally.

We spent about two hours playing jackbox.tv, laughing at each other’s stick figure drawings, although I was easily the king champ at worst drawings. No questions asked.

“You married an artist, Oxbear,” Carrie teased.