Lezione Prima

Saturday, September 8, 2007

Friday – the day Frances was to begin his first session of algebra with Collette – had he not been feeling “under the weather”, as were Carrie-Bri, Joe, Rose, and Linnea also. Collette reluctantly agreed to begin Monday instead. Kids and their claim to colds…

Meanwhile, Linnea was busy in the kitchen with Trooper and a red tin can of doggie treats.

“Jump, Trooper, jump! Good. Sit, sit. Good dog. Down. Good boy!”

Sometimes Collette wondered if Trooper realized just how badly he was humiliating himself. Later, he pranced around the house with a red bandanna tied around his neck, also courtesy of Linnea.

Puck was busy over his newest edible sensation – green beans. Linnea watched, cheering him on to taste-bud tingling green fields of beanery, about which he did not yet seem to be particularly enthusiastic.

“Good boy, Puck. Nummy, nummy!” Linnea encouraged.

Puck giggled and decided that gagging was no longer necessary.

Gray rains, yellowing trees – smoke and sulfur. September was sometimes an unusual world.

In other news, Collette had decided to bring out the Italian books for another shot. This time, no giving up. Carrie had inspired her yet again with her renewed energy toward Arabic.

While Collette took a swing on the newly installed front porch swing with Puck that afternoon, Frances and Linnea decided to join them. Linnea had been playing with a fallen pink hibiscus blossom, which she dropped to the porch. Then for some unknown reason it somehow rocketed out of Frances’ hand and smacked squarely into Linnea’s face.

“It’s war!” Linnea shouted and took off after Frances who giggled maniacally around the side of the house.

What became of the skirmish, Collette did not know. She returned Puck indoors for his bottle.

It was later that evening that OLeif and Puck had a guys’ night while Collette returned to the house to accompany Mom and Carrie for one of her least favorite enterprises – clothes shopping. The time was better passed, however, when Mom and Carrie accompanied. Inside, Carrie was preparing to leave. Rose, slightly bored and waiting for some sort of action, lay on the couch with cellphone in hand. Joe also was looking over his cellphone:

“It’s so great. I can talk on my cellphone while I take a shower. I just love it to pieces.”

“Joe loves it so much, he’s going to marry it.”

“Frances…”

Giggle, giggle.

Rose stuck the stub of her cellphone antenna into the corner of her mouth at an angle and grimaced.

“Who am I, Mom?”

“Winston Churchill?”

“You’re right!”

“What?” said Collette.

“You know – he always had that cigar sticking out of the side of his mouth with that face…”

Soon Carrie was ready to go, sitting in the front of the minivan. On the drive over to Chesterfield, it soon became apparent that Carrie was feeling very sick – either due to an ill-fated package of salad dressing at work, or a cheese cream asparagus dip, also at work. Once they had almost arrived at the mall, Mom made a quick turn-around, as Carrie was taking her own turn, for the worse. Later that evening, after the ailment had been compromised, the diagnosis was a probable sick stomach due to an overabundance of the dip.

Saturday morning the trip was attempted again, this time with more success, and still under raining skies. Before heading out, Carrie sneaked into Mom’s and Dad’s room, where Dad was at his laptop.

“You want to join the airplane building crew?” Dad was asking Collette. “Carrie! Get away from that drawer!”

It was the age-old battle. Carrie the Sock Thief. Dad’s socks, to be particular. She took a pair of Andy’s instead, despite the fact that the heels always came up past her ankles.

But in regard to the plane, once instructions and materials were prepared, the construction would take place in the garage. The wings, of course, would not be attached until final assembly at the airport.

Clothes shopping and a bowl of baked potato soup was followed by Collette and Carrie inspecting the “Made In” labels on her clothes, which was Collette’s usual habit after a purchase.

“Vietnam, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan, Cambodia…”

“Sweat shops,” said Carrie.

She pulled out her tops:

“Cambodia, Malaysia, Turkey…”

Later that same afternoon, OLeif, Collette, and Puck met up with Joe at NAWS where Joe added music to his thumb drive from OLeif’s computer, had a French vanilla cappuccino, and played a few rounds of Pirates of the Caribbean pinball. Puck enjoyed his visit, zooming around in his stroller doing donuts with his Uncle Joe in the rec atrium.