Look Out

Now that I had 435 pounds of books sitting in my living room waiting for eventual distribution, the bubble wrap had been a little busy. One pallet of 550 books, mostly still un-packed in their boxes. The whole process of unloading from the driveway to the living room had taken less than ten minutes, but left me feeling like I had run a few miles on no water. Each of those thirteen full boxes rang in at just about 40% of my body weight, and Crackers certainly wasn’t helping.

At the Big House that afternoon, Puck swiped a piece of Dubble Bubble from Carrie-Bri’s special stash.

“Ooooh, careful,” Carrie warned him. “The boogie monster might get ya tonight.”

Puck stared back, unmoved. “Yeah, right.”

Carrie shook her head in mock solemnity. “You’d better watch it. He might come for you.”

“That’s not true. Plus, I have a light on in the hallway. Plus, I close my curtains. Plus, I don’t believe in that stuff.”

“Better watch out.”

On the drove home, Puck went to town on that gum until he realized he was done with it.

“Mom! Can I spit my gum out the window like Sun always does?”

“That takes years of practice, bud. I don’t think that’s a good idea right now. The wind can send it right back into the car.”

“Oh, please, Mom! I can shoot it straight!”

We were on an open stretch of highway. Normally I don’t condone gum-spitting, but he had been waiting a long time to follow in the ways of his aunt.

“Okay, but do it fast before any cars come by.”

Window down. Gum aimed. POW!

“I did it! I did it!”

Satisfied with his first gum-shooting efforts, Puck settled back into his seat as he closed the window. Ten minutes later …

“Uh oh … Mom? There’s gum all over my poncho!”

At bedtime, Puck was tucked into his Angry Birds comforter, prayed with, and “good-nighted” to. I returned to the couch to prep more book orders and catch the rest of the game.

Puck’s voice boomed out to me from his room. “Mom! Mom? Sun was just teasing about the boogie monster, right?”