OLeif Gets Manly Stuff for His Birthday
Saturday, June 16, 2012
Around seven, while Collette waded through the slugs of morning cold-allergies, the boys drove off together before the rest of the neighborhood was up. Puck had gathered his own wardrobe for the morning, which included wellies, Puck cowboy hat, rawhide vest, a bundle of weeds in one hand, and a banana in the other.
“See ya later, Mom,” he said importantly. “We’ll be back after we go froggin’.”
Froggin’?…
No critters were caught.
“Too tiny,” OLeif explained, after landing in a slough of mud to grab at one.
But there were always other treasures. Puck scooped up a tiny turtle shell to later bleach at home.
OLeif washed down his boots and Puck helped beeswax them.
Puck was in the habit of a very specific kind of apology lately…
“I’m sorry, Mom. I did it on purpose,” was his signature explanation.
Collette was fine with that.
Puck signed up for the Cardinals tickets raffle at the library.
Freshly-baked donuts from Schnuck’s in the hunt for Botanical Gardens discounts.
Puck arrived with a chocolate Three Musketeers ‘stache around his mouth.
There was a bird in the chimney. After flying around the house, briefly, he escaped through the deck door.
There were gifts. From Kitts – a photograph book of cats in cardboard villages. And a Cardinal magnet from Gloria.
Puck liked gifts.
But there were other presents to distribute for a different gentleman.
From the Snicketts and Silverspoon families – yellow-jacket-yellow body armor. Beef steak strips and Jack Daniels. And from Izzy — a repayment for purchased software and a funny card reading on the inside, “Now I just owe you the iPad.”
Puck watched the colorful row of wax candles in the shelf of chocolate-cream-cheese-etc. cake. He mused on OLeif’s adjustment into another age…
“Now that you’re 18, Dad…”
Then Puck, after enjoying his Papa Murphy’s pizza and piecing Lego houseboats – insisting that some of the pieces must be “false gods” – unfolded the box of rubber stamps around four o’clock, spreading yellow ink down his leg in the process while Theodore napped and Gloria threatened shut-eye herself after only three hours of sleep the previous night. And a flaming game on the tele.