Of Monsters

Thursday, April 12, 2012

“Holy tomato!” Puck declared.
Apparently something had surprised the freshly woken whippersnapper.

Puck’s first assignment of the day was to write a thank you note to Anneliese for the chalk set…
“Ok…” Puck replied a little reluctantly. “But I’m not sure my muscles are strong enough for writing a long note…”
The deed was done after the fourth attempt.

During Quiet Hour, Puck was intent on discovering what the curious object sitting in the backyard was, actually. He thought it might be a “tiny hat”…
“I think Sun flipped her magic accidentally on her hat and put it in our yard by mistake,” was the explanation.

It was the final meeting of Luke and Leia with their buddy, Puck.
Francis and Linnea arrived for Francis to check out the lawn mower. Francis could be lured into doing almost anything for two egg sandwiches, an orange Fanta – which was a side plus for the day, and biscuit-fried donuts.

Back to the ranch…
Linnea would be watching Puck back at the house, where he would spend the night, while Collette joined the larger portion of the family at Webster University for Bing English’s – “The Hovel” – a Frankenstein-inspired opera, at 7:30, where she would meet OLeif – fresh from purchasing ticket packs at Busch Stadium.

45 minutes of traffic on the road back to the house, and Puck popped out of the van at the first tunes of the ice cream truck down the street. Linnea ran around hunting up cash as Puck, apparently, hailed the truck with a “crazy dance”, according to Carrie. It wasn’t long before all the neighbor girls had joined him, and a line was forming. Linnea reigned in a Bomb Pop for a dollar.
“That is the creepiest thing ever,” Carrie said, as the rest of the family watched, laughing, from the dining room windows. “When Kitts and I were in Ohio, there was one of those things following us. But it was homemade and had “Ice Cream” handwritten on the side. We were like, ‘Turn left! Turn left! Aaaah!’ And remember that time Snuffy Friendly and the other guys from choir took off chasing one of them, when they were teenagers? That guy stepped on it. He was terrified!”

Dad walked in the door just before six for a bowl of mandarin chicken and rice before everyone except Francis, Linnea, and Puck shoved off to meet Grandma Combs and Rose at the Target/World Market in Clayton. Mom walked over to Target to find some shampoo for Francis.
“Careful,” Carrie had warned. “We might see someone we know.”
“Who are you going to see out here?” Dad asked.
The car was getting a little stuffy, so Carrie began to roll down the window…
“Don’t do that, Carrie.”
“I need air, Dad.”
They both tried to jam each other with the buttons…
“Stand-off!” Carrie laughed.
“I just child-locked it,” Dad replied.
Collette could see his smile lines in the rearview mirror.
Mom was ready to be picked up. Of course the person walking out in front of her was…
“Wiggly Toe Guy!” Carrie cried, turning her face quickly away from the window. “I told you, Dad!”

After a minor wrong turn, some talk about “tire squishiness” between Dad and Joe, and “Get some more air back here, for reals, Dad,”… they arrived safely at Webster and took seats behind 7/13ths of the English family – Mr. English was playing French Horn in the ensemble, joined by Theodore and Gloria, and even Collette’s second violin teacher from when she was ten or so. Minutes before Bing entered, to applause.
As predicted, Bing had composed a fine opera, including a sizable ensemble, petite soprano, baritone, tenor – son of a professor at Covenant, and bass – who looked very much like one of the Magi from Ben-Hur, sans flowing white hair. Bing conducted naturally, with animation, a composition that, by Collette’s rounded estimates, approached the 40-min mark. The sudden and tragic ending was signature Bing. And he received two rounds of applause for his debut.
He was congratulated by various families of the community, his grandparents, and a bouquet of “masculine” blossoms in green and yellow from Grandma Combs.
“Just think of all those plays from when they were kids,” Gloria noted.
Yes, Bing had come a long way from the days of “music man” for the inexplicable theatrical creations of Kitts, Carrie, and Eve.

Ice cream on the road home.