One More Day

Our presence was required at the Big House. With Lucia reverse-bribing Carrie-Bri into a Nine Inch Nails concert in Nashville: overnight road trip, Mom and Dad not flying in till seven that evening, and the boys at work and school, we were Linnea’s single ticket to choir and volleyball.

Weepy gray morning. We began the drive out to north of 70.

“Mom?” Puck asked from the backseat. “Can we go to Disney World sometime?”

“We’ll see, Puck.”

“Thanks for taking me to Disney World tomorrow, Mom!” My blond son laughed, his hair sticking up everywhere.

“Puck, you look like Einstein.”

“No I don’t! His head was flat! He was a monster!”

Turns out we had a longer night out that way than I would have thought. Linnea drove us to Chick-Fil-A and ordered in the drive-through. Professional job at that. Rain spurted at us on the way back. A little Minecraft. A little Korean Netflix: “Playful Kiss”. [So the Koreans don’t know how to attract audiences with alluring titles.] Makes Linnea and me laugh anyway.

With Linnea installed in Hazelwood to encourage teammates [she was out for the season with a bad back], we headed home…

“I love these kinds of nights,” Puck said thoughtfully to me as we drove away.

Dredges of dark gray cloud floated against a pale light in the west.

“I agree, bud.”

“Yeah, everyone’s just doing what they have to do. The electric people doing their job… and the factory people… Everyone’s doing their duty.”

We stopped at the QT down the road. Puck had been sitting for an hour and needed a stretch. He listened to the Mazda guzzle fuel…

“It sounds like it’s drinking,” he grinned toothless, shuffling a couple of QT card brochures from the stall.

A few minutes passed.

“Is it done drinking, Mom?”

Hot shower, peppermint soap, Bible story, scrubbed teeth, my son was ready for bed.

“I think I’m going to fall asleep pretty quickly,” he informed me with confidence, and then grinned. “I love going to sleep when I’m cold. It makes me have a tingly feeling in my heart.”