Neck Trouble
Saturday, March 24, 2007
Upon leaving the office Friday evening, Collette drove Linnea and Mom (who had dropped off the van for the youth) back to the house after running several errands. Poor Linnea was not feeling well. She sat in the back, barefoot, with a towel wrapped around her neck, in a sufficient amount of pain. Similar to how Collette had twisted her own neck twice before at a young age, Linnea had done the same, and could not turn her head.
Collette had sprained her neck twice – once when she was doing somersaults under the old persimmon tree in the backyard. Something stretched a little too far and she found herself flat on her back unable to move. Shortly later she was inside lying on the living room floor with a nosebleed and several pillows around her, watching Mr. Rogers. The second time she was six years old, sitting on her bed in Ohio, grumpily anticipating the arrival of oatmeal for breakfast while she dressed for the day. In the attempt to pull a particularly stubborn lilac colored turtleneck over her head, something snapped again, and she couldn’t move. Mom had to come in and take care of the turtleneck. This time, it was Linnea’s turn to feel the pain. Collette sometimes wondered if they had extra vertebrae in their necks.
As the evening wore on, Mom drove off for some dinner while Collette watched Linnea and Carrie-Bri and Lucia went out to Mimi’s Cafe. They all returned later for Carrie to begin highlighting Lucia’s hair. They laughed over work stories while Mom and Collette folded and stapled and stuffed the bulletin. Linnea snoozed while “Christy” played in the background. Then Carrie made an ice cream run, including a frozen lemonade for Linnea.
“The office was so quiet before Lucia got there,” Carrie was saying. “It’s always a party on her side of the room. And my side is always quiet because we’re all taking calls. No one ever believes that we’re cousins because we’re nothing alike.”
“I am the life of the party,” Lucia grinned as Carrie continued to work on her hair.
By the time the bulletin was finished it was 10:30 and Collette was convinced to just stay the night. Sometime around one o’clock, she awoke to hear a rhythmic beat coming from the basement. Joe had brought back Wally and Curly to spend the night after pizza and movies and bowling with Lolli, Starr, Thor, Izzy, and Chester, and the music and computer games must have continued through three o’clock in the morning.
The spring was warm that day, and Collette hoped for cooler breezes. The daffodils were out and the grass was thick and dark and green.
Later after breakfast, Carrie-Bri headed off to work and the boys split off in the late morning. Joe hurried Wallace out to the car in order to get him to Lindenwood in time for his rehearsal for the SCCYO concert that afternoon. Wallace looked oddly reminiscent of Rose when she was being rushed out to the car by Joe – crooked tie, barefoot, shoes and socks in hand… Joe then returned to start his laundry before Curly took off for a day at the Green Lantern. Come afternoon, Joe ironed his shirt and left in Dad’s car for the concert.
“What’s up with these boys having slumber parties?” Carrie had asked that morning, stirring up a pitcher of orange juice. “I don’t think I even had any slumber parties in high school.”
Apparently times had changed.
Meanwhile, Linnea was recovering from her sprain and felt well enough to play a game of Life early in the afternoon. Mom and Joe had been trimming bushes with scissors in the front yard. Snuggles had been trying to eat Rose’s frog. And Linnea cut up a piece of scrap foam into cubes for the cats to bat around the house
Sometime later in the afternoon, Joe returned. He found, upon arriving at the concert, that he needed a ticket to enter. Having no cash on him at the time, he opted instead to drive over to the Hobcoggins and bring their car to the Green Lantern while they were at the concert. Then in the evening he joined everyone again for another evening of fun, fun, fun, at Laurel Park.
The rest of the afternoon for Mom, Collette, and Linnea was spent fixing up baby’s bassinet, and running by the church, the library, and the grocery store. Another semi-insignificant Saturday for the record.