May 13

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Thursday morning started with a wash-out of green and silver and blues. Puck crawled into bed with Collette after OLeif took an early six o’clock departure. He pulled back the curtains and watched the downpour.

“It’s blowin’ all the shade away, Mama,” he said to her.

An hour into books that morning, Puck paused to watch Ameren UE pull up in two trucks outside the house. Someone had finally decided to do something about the enormous telephone pole lying across two of the neighbor’s yards across the street.

“Mama! Mama!” Puck cried, as five guys lifted up the pole to the truck, “They’re puttin’ that tree back up and puttin’ some leaves on it!”

While Puck napped in her room under the crocheted blanket with the windows open to cool breezes, Collette listened to a continued Mars Hill sermon series on Ecclesiastes.

After the nap, Collette dressed him appropriately to visit the police station.

“We’re goin’ to baby jail, Mama?” he asked. “We gotta hurry get away so that we come home and they don’t follow us and come into our house.”

Collette did her best to explain that they were only going to get fingerprints taken again for the adoption. But Puck did not seem bothered about it anyway, and slipped his feet into his black flip-flops.

Fingerprinting was brief. As was the bank for notarizations and money orders. And while Collette jogged and the rain returned, OLeif and Puck visited the library. They returned with a small stack, including a cookbook of vegetarian Indian dishes.

After Rose arrived in time for dinner, their little world under glass: all green and wind and beauty. Thunder rumbled in the west. Carrie-Bri and Joe arrived shortly later before a finale-of-the-season-for-Joe run to Dairy Queen for blizzards.

Then Rose told Collette about their flower-growing competition at work. And they adjourned downstairs where Carrie-Bri bundled up next to Rose in a blanket and snuggled with her.

“Violation!” Rose declared. “Violation!”