Oh, My Son...

“Yali! Yali! Yali! Come here! This is how you do it!”

For once, Puck was whisper-yelling, instead of yelling-yelling. It was about three o’clock in the afternoon at the Big House following church, two giant homemade pizza casseroles, and a few naps here and there, probably because of the pizza casseroles.

Regarding the naps-in-progress, Puck was trying to keep things quiet as he guided Yali through the dining room towards a giant ceramic bowl of cornflakes sitting on the table.

“This is a game, Yali! See? You take one cornflake and you eat it and then we walk into the living room, come back, and eat another cornflake, and do it over and over again! It’s a game!”

This kept them both occupied for a surprisingly lengthy amount of time while the nappers were still able to nap, mostly uninterrupted. Granted, it helps having a mockingbird for a little brother.

The afternoon waned as those who had temporarily disbanded for various activities, (i.e. burning sticks and Elmer’s and Jaya’s expired Christmas tree in the backyard, learning the rhumba at the community college, and Bible study at Starbuck’s) returned for a family meeting in the living room, including selecting a foundation repair company to fix the basement. The curse of living on a bed of shifting red clay, like most homes this side of the river, I imagine.

That evening, I asked Puck a question I like to put to him from time to time…

“Hey, Puck? What do you want to be when you grow up?”

Apparently his opinion from the last time I asked him this question, hadn’t changed much. “A person … a person who studies butts.”

Oxbear immediately took over that conversation. “That’s going to be a smelly job.”

“What? Wait, wait, wait. You mean they really look at human being butts?”

“Yup.”

“Really?!”

“Yup.”

“That’s what I want to be then!”

“If that’s really what you want to do, bud, then more power to you, because someone has to do it.”

Maybe it’s time to begin suggesting a few alternative options regarding his future education plans…