Hours Pass Quickly
Thursday, May 31, 2012
“Puck, I wish you could find Daddy’s flashlight that you lost.”
The culprit marched into his bedroom in the process or switching from “sleeping clothes” to “awake clothes”.
“Just keep praying for God to appear it, Mama,” he replied with authority. “Every day. And once He’s used to you praying for it, He will bring it back.”
Hmmm…
The rain had pattered the street once again, and continued to do so under darkening skies in the southwest.
And once again, OLeif had forgotten the heavy red vegetable soup for his lunch. Collette decided taping a sign on the windshield every evening wasn’t a half-bad idea.
“I want to listen to Johnny Cash,” Puck said out-of-blue, adamantly, over breakfast.
“Ok…” wondering where that came from.
“He’s the boss. Johnny Cash. I want to listen to every Cardinals’ song. Is Lance Berkman the boss of them?”
The kid had a memory.
The rain continued.
And Madeline still remained in hiding.
Meanwhile, Mom, who had picnicked with Joy Tecumseh the other day, was now operating the transfer of donated bookshelves to the new church library, of which Collette had recently found herself the head librarian. Time to dust off that old volume – “How to Painlessly Understand and Apply with Sticky Labels the Dewey Decimal System”.
As steam rose from the street – for some unknown reason; the day was very cool – Puck packed up 1.4 tons of materials in his blue duffel “for Grandma’s house”…
“Ug. I can’t lift three hundred pounds very well…”
He rolled himself onto the kitchen floor to add a dramatic element.
“I reckon Shaun the Sheep is losing some of his fur,” he noted shortly later, removing a white hair from the top of his duffle, in which Shaun was snuggly packed.
The afternoon darkened over – screaming school children out of school, deranged canines biting at air, bird symphonies gone horribly wrong…
Madeline snaked through the living room and hallway to smash herself someplace underneath Collette’s bed, hoping Puck didn’t see her from the reading chair in his room.
He didn’t.
Collette and Puck read from the new Xplor magazine, which featured catfish (aka “swimming tongues”) and a blurb about disappearing fireflies…
“That’s because they go to the moon, I think,” said Puck thoughtfully.
Doctor Who influence, perhaps?…
Pause for snack.
Collette reminded Puck of the answer to Catechism Question #49 as he polished a spoon twice as big as his mouth for the last of the applesauce. Wide eyes. Tuft of ornery blonde hair sticking up, two o’clock. Honestly, it didn’t matter if he memorized all of it. But it made good conversation and thought. That was the point, really.
Collette snipped off a small square band-aid from the linen closet as Puck caught his first view of National Velvet. Time to break out the old childhood trove. Swiss Family Robinson had already sent him into laughing fits.
This same young gentleman attempted to impress Collette by setting the table at dinner, everything arranged appropriately – bowls, knives, forks…
“I want to make a nice dinner for all of us,” he explained, grating an antique chair across the linoleum to establish it at the head of the table.
And with that dimpled chubby head smiling sweetly at her from across the table, fisting a jumbo bunny carrot, it was a nice way to end the afternoon.
The signature goodnight kiss – cheek, opposite cheek, nose, and chin, with Puck mirroring.
Madeline snacked on swirling dust bunnies kicked up by the ceiling fan, smacking her jaws.
The world was green, and quiet.