Quarantined from Cold
I should have known Crackers was involved in the recent murder of a particularly velvety scarlet primrose petal in the night, in the dark, when no one was looking. Puck found the now crunchy, shriveled cadaver on the table, one set of guilty yellow eyes taunting, guiltless – and careless – from the table.
“Crackers!”
Fortunately it was only a single petal, and while damages were limited, I removed both new, and apparently tempting, creations to the window ledge in my room.
There she was, ten minutes later, eyeballing two potential morning snacks. I put her out and shut the door.
Puck was already hardcore into Thursday morning dance party, spinning in the living room, eggplant blanket whirling dervish on his head, knocking over the expanding city of discarded cardboard that he refuses to part with. Cardboard shells once boxing waffles, root beer, Christmas lights, and moccasins.
With the first dance party party of the morning concluded, I lured the revolving boy back to the couch with readings on the industrial revolution.
“It’s okay, Mom. I can still hear you from here. I just want to pretend to be a tornado right now.”
The afternoon was a hit in the bird feed department. First, it was only squirrels hanging upside down and backwards in contortionist poses, hunting black triangular seeds, swinging in the negative five windchill in the heat of the day. Then …
“Mom! A cardinal’s on our bird feeder! He’s the only customer right now. Hey! Is that a blue jay? Look, he told the other blue jays about it.”
Puck watched the show, and crunched into another shingle of uncooked pasta, lasagna style. I had already caught him licking his lips over the macaroni box, which I confiscated.
“I have to take small bites, Mom. I’m really careful, else or it will cut your throat, and you will have to put band-aids in your mouth.”
Silent streets, no one out. I’m not even sure a single school bus passed that afternoon. As five o’clock approached, two pots of two different potatoes boiling on the stove: white and sweet. El Oso was with the boys downtown. And Puck and I read books by golden lamplight before bed.
Puck’s Blog: Day #23
I had a crazy dream last night. I was chasing “I Love Lucy” and her friends and they were Legos!