Pretty Good at Crafts
“Aghkghk,” Puck groaned, rolling headfirst onto our bed at about 6:30 that morning. “Rule number one of Guys’ Night? Don’t eat seven pieces of pizza before bed.” He buried his face deeper into the covers. “NEVER EVER eat seven pieces of pizza before bed.”
I didn’t ask about the details. What happens during Guys’ Night stays at Guys’ Night. I had been too busy watching David Freese not play third base downtown.
“Mom?”
“Yes, bud?”
“Do you agree I’m pretty good at crafts?”
Puck sat at the Big House kitchen counter early Friday evening, creating what he called a “portable jail” from Legos and a roll of duct tape he found in the basement. I had to agree with him. Although “crafts” isn’t so much the word I’m looking for. It’s more that inventor’s spirit he gets from his dad, I suppose. Although that crafty side definitely came out Saturday morning when he and Oxbear sat down to piece together a large poster board for his crocodile research project due Monday morning at school. I’m definitely not the artistically-inclined parent of the family.
About the most “art” I could rustle up in my blood was spackling the living room walls in preparation for eventual repainting. Oxbear cracked the lid of the small tub for me which I began to stir.
“Hmmm, looks sort of like pancake batter,” I said more to myself than anyone. “Sort of want to taste it.”
The boys looked up from an explosion of felt, textured paper, and rubber cement at the kitchen table.
“Be my guest,” Oxbear encouraged me.
“Well,” Puck shook his head, “so long, Mom. Dad, get the R.I.P. stone.”
I left the boys to their crafts and began to spackle, leaving most of the walls resembling more a map of the South Pacific than anything else.
After Yali’s nap, Puck ran back to very gently cuddle him in the big blue blanket.
“Yali I’m going to make you a burrito! Buddy, your head’s about to fall off the edge. Let’s tuck it in a little bit. Buddy, you can sleep in your dreams, as long as you desire.”
Shortly later, the wind rolled in, tearing at the trees, river-water sky, ready for rain. The boys ran around in the yard till it fell.
Then burgers at the Silverspoon’s and an adult coloring book – which sounds way worse than it is – for Gloria as early Mother’s Day present.