Old Tunes
The world was pure white that Friday morning. Collette’s cold was somewhat better, though she had developed a little bit of a cough.
The drive over to the house was decent, until they exited the highway. There, the roads had become one lane between the drifts, where automobiles traveled at about twenty-five miles an hour. Collette was relieved to pull up to the house with the vehicle all in one piece. Albeit the driveway was completely uncleared.
As they pulled up, Frances and Linnea headed down the icy road on the old sled, piggy-back, laughing and waving, as they careened past the house. They landed somewhere down the other end of the subdivision where other neighbor friends were also ready for a day of fun in the snow. Seven inches of white fluffiness. Snow-man ready.
Dad had decided to work from home. Joe’s first day of work had been postponed until the following day. All college classes were canceled, of course. It was a day to hang around the house and watch “Night at the Museum” for lunch. Collette also split one of her Sunkist oranges with Joe who shortly later headed over to Curly’s after dropping off Rose at work.
Puck trained as usual, walking along the coffee table, looking for trouble.
Come afternoon, Puck strolled with his snacks while Collette and Carrie-Bri pulled out the old violin and cello, respectively, for some duets from the old days. Unfortunately, only Christmas tunes were available. This was after they had made some sorry attempts at the hymnal (one of many housed in an old cardboard box under Mom’s and Dad’s bed). Things weren’t sounding too great. By the time they got to “A Mighty Fortress is Our God”, it was pretty sour.
“Good thing we weren’t the ones playing on the Titanic when it went down,” said Collette. “What a terrible last thing to hear.”
After playing several other dirges badly enough to send Puck crying from the room, they decided to try the Christmas books. It brought back memories of the old days when Collette, Carrie-Bri, and Lucia would play together on the holidays. Lucia played Mom’s old flute.
“Oops, that was a sharp there,” Carrie winced.
Almost every piece was cut short, laughing. Clearly, both girls were a little out of practice.
The road home was a clean drive. Somewhere in the afternoon the sun had decided to show its face. As a result, the roads were fantastically blinding.
Later that afternoon back at home, Collette heard munching sounds and caught Puck in the act of eating his book, The Runaway Bunny. Apparently it was a tasty meal. He gnawed repeatedly on the corner in great concentration, like a fat little beaver.
“Yah yah yah yah yah yah YAH!!!” He exclaimed in baby munchiness.
Collette couldn’t help but laugh.
OLeif came home from a busy day at work and greeted the chubby Octavian.
“Busy busy day,” he said. “Crazy.”
This seemed to be pretty typical.