Lizard Skin, Milkshakes, & a Good Smoke of the Pipe
Saturday, March 25, 2006
[10:09am] The third Piper discussion focused on hedonism amidst the usual mingling chatter and ideals from the kids. Present were: Joe, Wallace, Pepper, Augustus, Molly, Magnus, and Susie. And, as seemed to be a beginning tradition, Steak ‘n Shake followed where Shakespeare proceeded to stretch the skin off his face until he looked like a lizard or a croaking frog or some sort of ‘amphibinous’ creature that could stretch out its skin.
“Dude, that’s so weird,” OLeif looked at him oddly, finishing off his burger.
Magnus laughed, “I mean you don’t know how fun it is to have my face.”
And there were other discussions on how badly the home-schoolers spelled on the forum, things that Carrie did to tease Joe, how much Wally looked like his mom and his dad, Puddle-jumper and his collection of chick-flicks, and the usual other things the group discussed. Meanwhile, Magnus ordered his coveted side-by-side shake – vanilla and strawberry, and Molly sketched a picture of the rainbow-colored lizard beanie baby (from the Magnus & Molly toy box) on the back of her place mat. And Collette amused herself thinking and scratching her straw against the frosted ice in her root beer glass.
The weekend was quieter, which was good, because Collette was beginning to get her annual headaches with the changing of the seasons. And so OLeif and Collette took a good drive out to Redbud, Illinois, and had fried chicken. The girl at the drive-through window forgot to throw in a fork, and so Collette had to eat her macaroni and cheese as though she were slurping a bowl of soup – but such things happened. They drove past a fenced-off piece of pasture where three great buffalo roamed. OLeif smoked his pipe (quite content as usual) and Collette was happy that she had bought bluebird stamps the previous afternoon and that the sky was perfectly textured with clouds for their cold walk around the Fort de Chartres.
America’s sixth president, John Quincy Adams:
– wrote English with one hand while translating Greek in the other
– secretary to American ambassador to Russia at age of 14, speaking fluent French
– angrily wiped the rouge (a gift from the queen of Prussia) off the face of his wife with a towel upon attending an opera performance