Ivy and Her Pranks

Thursday, June 15, 2006

Collette found herself in a world of many times and thoughts since Monday night. A roaming planet. It was rather a good thing.

Work was the usual amusement. Collette was first greeted with more donuts from Ivy – her tool of “bribery” to keep Collette happy in the office.

“You know, Collette, she just gets you donuts so that you’ll mention her favorably in your writings,” Judah laughed, helping himself to a cinnamon roll.

And there was discussion over why Sinai hadn’t yet checked out his bathroom office. Ivy had managed to find a wonderful, thick, dead spider in the office and had placed it in Sinai’s toilet upstairs. She was waiting for the climatic moment when he would open it up and find the spindly gift floating there.

“Well, he knows it’s you who put it there, Ivy,” Rosemary called from her office. “You’re the only one who flushes things down the toilet here.”

“Well, why doesn’t someone else do it too and help me out here. Put M ‘n M’s in there or something.”

“But then the spider would eat them,” Rosemary replied.

“Eeeeeeeew!” Ivy said, changing her mind.

Later, Sinai informed Ivy that he had already seen the spider and was waiting for her to find it. They had been saving the same gift for each other. Ivy was a little bummed that her surprise had been so easily ignored. But some new prank-ish opportunity was sure to present itself in the near future.

Meanwhile, Ivy was getting a new Honda – silver with black interior (which was to be named “Heigh Ho”). Nicodemus was to have her old green car, and “Barney” (the older purple vehicle) was to become Megan’s for temporary use. Ivy had only to come up with a name for the green car.

And throughout the various conversations formed around Ivy’s desk that day, a box full of tempting bubble wrap sat on the chair against the wall. Everyone took their turns popping the bubbles during discussions on church picnics, spiders, and other such churchy and un-churchy subjects.

Back on the ranch, Collette dropped by briefly after work at Linnea’s request, to check out her new Nancy Drew mystery game in the computer. Out back, it seemed that the boys had survived the night and were still running around with air-soft guns and masks, taking hits in the tree house and from behind trees. Collette rather wondered if the neighbors thought they had been infested with rather awkward-looking snipers in the back yard. And they swung in the triple-decker hammocks in Kitts’ and Carrie’s old Aram Breena tree. The older boys also slept in the hammocks, one hung above the other, three up.

At home that evening, Rose sent Collette a link of a video concerning “fainting goats” (of which Rose decided that she and Molly would purchase an entire herd).

And Collette had a ginger ale and marveled at the unusual quiet and was very glad that she had never lived alone.