Puck's Orange

Puck began his day with a big juicy orange, which his Aunt Rose had sliced in half and given to him. He spent many a happy minute chewing and juicing both halves to pulpy bits. Tiny teeth marks were left all over the rind as he smacked his way to the middle.

“You’re destroying that orange, man,” Collette told him, as he smiled at her through rosy cheeks.

He continued his morning by unshelving books in the living room.

At some point in the late morning, Joe got onto Collette’s computer while she was busy with “Midsomer Murders” and wrote the following poem:

“Flittering bird flying around,
Beware of the car that will leave you dead on,
The ground.”

Amazingly, after all of the snow from the previous day, it had mostly melted by Wednesday afternoon. The fields were almost dry. St. Louis weather, as always, was highly unpredictable in every way.

Rose was holding Puck under his arms, making him run through the living room in his blue slipper-booties.

“Yay!” she called aloud for him, as they raced across the floor.

By late afternoon, Carrie-Bri pulled out Joe’s old baseball glove to play some catch with Frances in preparation for his first season.

“Are there spiders in here?” Carrie asked herself. “Put your hand in it, Joe, and find out.”

“No!”

“Wimp.”

She set the glove on the counter, hopped up, and sat on it, with a smash.

“Ohho!” Joe said. “That had metal in it. You crushed the metal!”

Carrie seemed unconcerned and headed outside in the cool breezes, while Puck sat in his high chair and smashed his peach puffs with his sippy cup.

“Yah yah yah yah!” he cried happily.

“He’s really talking to us,” Mom had said earlier that morning.

Collette believed it.

Puck was enjoying his last bottle of the day. All he could do was smile silly at Collette from the couch, sitting in OLeif’s lap, while milk spilled down his chubby cheeks.

After Collette’s walk under orange skies that evening, OLeif took off to hunt down his retainer.

“I had it all day,” he said, “but I was eating almonds at my desk…”

So he returned to work to review his last steps. Shortly later he returned: success.