One More Day
“Mom? Do you fink Crackers would die of fright if she went on a roller coaster?”
One day these th’s will kick in.
“She might…”
Puck stared at Crackers stretched out on a sunny patch of linoleum, oblivious to her master’s suggestions.
“Do you fink if she was in a blanket, it would cough down the sound? And it wouldn’t scare her?”
“Maybe…”
Puck paused for a little more contemplation.
“…I really want to take her on a roller coaster.”
Crackers could care less about theme parks. The sleepy fuzzball had found something way more interesting: a sand castle. Sparkling black and purple, a relic of Carrie’s younger years, she had bequeathed it to Puck. Crackers was clearly in love. Both paws wrapped around the base, whiskers resting against the turrets. The perfect face-scratcher.
“Take a picture of her, Mom! Take a picture!”
An hour later we were sitting on the red couch together, cracking through the tall tower of library books in the last weeks of the summer reading program. Nikola Tesla surfaced first. Puck had thoughts as we finished the summary of his discoveries.
“Like when I go down the slide at the park. There’s energy in the slide. The atoms are running around in the slide and some of them jump to your … butt … ah ha ha ha! … And that makes electricity!”
We had a three o’clock appointment downtown. After the library where Puck just had to pick up the latest read: “Veggies With Wedgies.” I really don’t know…
So USCIS was asking for our fingerprints again. I don’t really know why they need an update every fifteen months. But it’s virtually painless, really. 40 minutes on the road, eight dollars to park, through the metal detectors into the waiting room with Spanish instructions on the wall-television. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen another American-born citizen waiting in that room before. Adoptions must be more rare than I thought these days. Anyway, about seven minutes later, we were done. Nice people.
El Oso rewarded Puck with a QT slushie before joining his buddies for two hours of burgers and fig salad. Fig. Salad.
I’m so glad the All Star Break ends tomorrow.