July 17th

The house was in a little bit of a shake-down when Collette and Puck arrived that morning. Linnea’s birth certificate was missing. It was nowhere to be found. So there was a delay on her passport.

So instead, Mom, Collette, and Carrie-Bri ran errands. Collette bought three boxes of strawberries for the church picnic on Saturday, and a case of grape juice. A mirror rimmed in cobalt for the door, which she had never had before. And a pair of new yellow running shoes to replace her six year-old pair.

It was a beautiful day.

Everything was cooled.

Even the sky looked like autumn.

In the afternoon, Puck walked over to the neighbor’s garden with Francis and Linnea to pick peppers, cucumbers, and baby tomatoes. Puck seemed to enjoy this fresh selection of vegetables and walked around with tomato juice dribbling down his chin.

The neighbors were on vacation to the seashore and had asked that Linnea help herself to their produce.

That evening, Rose came over for more math tutelage. She was looking forward to the races the next day with work. OLeif was also accompanying to photograph. Magnus and Izzy were their guests.

“I hope there’s a wreck tomorrow,” said Rose. “No one would get hurt of course. As long as the Incredible Pizza Company car doesn’t hit us. They did last time. That’s the most embarrassing car to get hit by.”