Return from Paradise

Thursday, July 19, 2007


Thursday, Collette and Puck made travels for more stories. Although Joe was asleep for a long time after their arrival. Mom had made pancakes. Joe slept right through them and was awake sometime around eleven o’clock after Puck had gone down for his nap. While he did so, Joe organized his pictures from paradise and Collette purchased a large dark teal rug for the living room. Puck would need an area around which to crawl when he started to get on the go.

Joe had already brought out the gifts the night before.

“He was all full of ginger last night,” Mom said. “He got back at about 12:30, which would have been more like 7:30 in the evening for him. And he had a macchiato in Denver. So he was all full of energy.”

Joe had brought a pair of “spanking spoons” for Mom, which were actually salad spoons – in tribute to the good old days when the red plastic spoon in the kitchen cabinet had been used countless times on guilty buns. He had also brought back a thin postcard made of Hawaiian wood and etched with the Hawaiian islands.


For Puck, Joe had bought a miniature “Boogie Boy”, almost a replica of the Fiji island statue that Aunt Petunia had presented to OLeif and Collette at their wedding. Now Puck had his own Boogie Boy. They would sit side-by-side.

After several “I Love Lucy” episodes, Collette began typing Carrie-Bri’s travel notes from Egypt while Carrie dictated. As they worked through the pages, the rain came in. Later, everyone but Dad (who was studying) and Rose (who was at work) gathered on the front porch to watch the storm. Puck stared in great awe.

“Oooooh!” Joe made faces at him.

“He’s laughing at your eyebrows,” Carrie said. “He’s thinking: ‘I wonder what those taste like?'”

That night, OLeif continued his conversation with Puck. It was pretty amazing how intent he was on communicating with his dad.

“Up rode the Squatter mounted on his thoroughbred,
Down came the troopers: one, two, three.
‘Who’s that jolly jumpbuck you’ve got in your tuckerbag?’
You’ll come a waltzing, Matilda, with me.”

“Waltzing Matilda, waltzing Matilda,
You’ll come a waltzing, Matilda, with me.
‘Who’s that jolly jumpbuck you’ve got in your tuckerbag?’
You’ll come a waltzing, Matilda, with me.”

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Jamie Larson
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