Quotable Persons of the Year - St. Lucia Combs & Rose Snicketts

Saturday, December 10, 2005

(11:21am) Friday had been a good day. There were some days that there was truly no other word to describe it, than that it was good. And for it, Collette was thankful. It was to Memorial Presbyterian that evening in the bitter cold of the night – a Gothic structure centered deep in the heart of the city, its spires rising to the cold night sky where clouds drifted across the moon.

So much had taken place since Friday – skating in Forest Park with Thor, OLeif, Collette, Joseph the Blue-Eyed, Elizabeth, and Carrie-Bri. That had followed the concert of hymns and Scripture with the choir (and the amazingly beautiful voice of a young, but mature-voiced tenor), under direction of Eustace Scrub. Mr. and Mrs. English, Eve, Annamaria, and Tor played as well with OLeif and others, while Collette sat in the Gothic cathedral of Memorial Presbyterian, watching Eleda and Justus. The concert was lovely, as was the church (filled with visiting international students just having come from the basement where a dinner had been served to them).

And the skating was bitterly cold, but from eleven till midnight, they looped around the open rink to old Christmas tunes, circled by numerous high school students, SLU and Wash-U students.

“Look what I did!” Carrie gleefully skated up to Collette, pointing towards Joseph and Elizabeth who toddered around the rink together, talking.

Collette laughed. “Just be careful, Carrie,” she chuckled.

Meanwhile, a bonfire crackled to the side while Thor, who had never skated in his life (no snow in Croatia), practiced small jumps off to the side and tore up the track. They could only last the hour and headed back inside to untie the skates and soon headed over for an hour or so to the Coffee Cartel (a 24-hour coffee house across from the Drunken Fish Restaurant, near Bissingers). They laughed over some coffee (though Carrie and Collette each ordered a delicious apple cider). They talked over school and theology (Joseph and OLeif anyway), and such. Joseph told of how one of his friends was going to be married and had decided to set off firecrackers at the end. Then Joseph suggested that he and OLeif go clubbing together to stir things up.

“Well, I’d ask you girls to come along with us, but I don’t think you’d be able to keep up,” Joseph chuckled.

But the evening was soon ended, and Saturday was spent Christmas shopping and at OLeif’s NAWS Christmas party (where Collette met his three IT co-workers (and now good friends) Wallace, Schroeder, and Buster, and Wallace’s and Schroeder’s wives, both very kind. She was also enthusiastically greeted by the two millionaire brothers who owned the company Barnabas & Silas, the younger brother reminding her greatly of Peter. They were starkly different – the older was quiet and reserved and the younger much more emotional and humorous, but both very friendly. Barnabas’ wife was Asian and wore a lovely skirt and top of gold sparkles, her hair long and golden. She was also very nice. But Collette was happy to hear them give God the glory and open with a prayer, honoring Christ for the success of the company and how they had come to regard their workers as family. And the credit card scandal had been cleared, the suspect taken away in a patrol car – he had only just been hired.

And Sunday after church was spent with Grandma Combs, Aunt Petunia, Mom, Carrie-Bri, and St. Lucia on the house tour at Lafayette Square. The sky was gray and somewhat rainy as it had been the year before.

“Look at that holly bush!” Grandma would exclaim at various houses. “It has to be ancient!”

They were surprised at the number of holly trees which had grown to such a greatness of height and thickness of limb. Other guests commented as well.

And at the fourth house, they were greeted with a fantastic surprise. It was more of a set of three grand condos constructed into an old Presbyterian church of white limestone and stained glass windows. They were floored upon walking up the stairs to the loft where the hall branched off into three rooms. Each opened up grandly to the rafters with grand stained glass windows and a partial loft in two of the three for open bedrooms, bathrooms, and huge walk-in closets. Collette could not believe how grand it all was – huge open space and almost glorious. She rather thought she might speak in a whisper while there. Carrie and Lucia were immediately taken, and planned on purchasing the first condo, although they were tempted to change their minds upon seeing the last room, which contained the old pipe organ and altar and a fireplace. (Collette could not decide if she would like living in an old church – seemed almost wrong, but probably not.) Of course Carrie and Lucia were compelled to change their minds when they found that the condos sold for well over $400,000. It was by far the most fascinating lodging Collette had ever seen in her life.

And in several gardens, hidden below frozen fountains, plump goldfish settled into hibernation.

“Guess what’s for dinner?” Lucia bellowed to the little fellows under the ice.

“Oh, Lucia,” Aunt Petunia sighed, chuckling at the same time.

Towards the end of the tour, Collette and the two girls waited outside for the moms (Grandma had opted to wait back at the church while they went off to find the last two houses).

“Doctor, doctor, help me,” Lucia tried to sing a ditty to herself and began dancing.

At the same time, two guys drove by in a lime green bug, staring. Collette hid her face behind her program, while she and Carrie erupted with laughter.

Later, as they walked by the scene of a recently cleared accident, Collette led them past two firemen, discussing matters near their truck.

“Ooooh!” Lucia grunted. “Arrest me, Mr. Fireman!” – by far, the best comment of the night.

Collette thought they might die of laughter.

“Look back there; no wonder he’s laughing at you,” Aunt Petunia told Lucia.

Then, on their way to the Bread Company, they passed the hospital at which Aunt Petunia had stayed for a week after having back surgery, years ago.

“What’s that on the top of that building?” Lucia bellowed from the back. “Christopher Columbus’ boat?”

“That’s the roof, dufus,” Aunt Petunia explained.

But there were more serious topics such as kids and getting married, friends’ troubles, school, etc. to discuss at dinner over good soup, sandwiches, and such. A worker in his late twenties or so, caught the eye of Carrie-Bri, halfway through the meal. Lucia was horrified.

“You are so kidding me,” she ducked her head below the booth, so he couldn’t see. “He is so not cute!”

“Oh, he’s precious. Just look at his facial expressions. He’s just like a teddy bear.”

Monday, Linnea presented OLeif and Collette with two large red, white, and green candy canes to place by their fireplace at home – her very own idea. And Monday night was spent at the Hatch’s for Christmas dinner, hearing about Mr. Swiss shooting Copperheads’ heads off with his shotgun, of how Ivy had associated animals with the gentlemen in the office – a snake for Frances, a turkey for Joe, and a pumpkin for Jimmy, and other such interesting bits of news. Then there were gifts for all the office staff – lovely chocolate brown water pitchers from Mr. and Mrs. Adams’ Plank Road Pottery in Old Saint Charles (where the archaeological dig had taken place).

Tuesday, before the Christmas choir concert, Clover had called for Carrie and was coming over for dinner beforehand. And so Joe would be driving home three girls, including Annabelle Spritz. Carrie also dyed Collette’s hair near black, at OLeif’s request, after she had made a delicious dish of scrambled eggs with cream, ham, pepper, and cheese. Collette had to admit that she thought Carrie about the best cook in her experience. Carrie rarely followed recipes; she improvised all the time. Linnea also took a sample from Collette’s plate and walked back over to the stove where Carrie made the next batch.

“Hold the ham, and extra cheese,” she demanded.

Meanwhile, Mom, Collette, and Joe had just finished discussing Rose, and how much she had come along over the years.

“Now if she’d just keep her mouth shut, she’d even be more beautiful,” Mom had just finished saying, when Rose burst up from the stairs, having just taken a shower, with Snuggs wrapped in her arms.

“I went to the Amazon!” She announced loudly.

Mom, Joe, and Collette just looked at one another laughing and and Joe gaping in disbelief at yet another ridiculous thing from Rose’s vocabulary store.