Shuteye
Somewhere towards midnight I woke up dreaming that Uncle Mo and the Jules Verne family were buying up tracks of farmland just west of 141. Or maybe that was on Mars. Maybe both. Either way, it wasn’t interesting enough to continue, so I switched over to attending a spring garden party at some rich person’s house with Rose and our cousins. We were wearing white dresses and there was all-white and all-yellow honeysuckle that I couldn’t smell because of my trampoline accident as a kid (which actually did happen). But that wasn’t interesting either, so I went a little apocalypse instead, and found myself shivering in a cold Nordic wind in the mountains above a giant pine forest. This is pretty much a nightly occurrence. Must be from that 50% all-chocolate diet.
On the way to church, Oxbear and I discussed what the general lay of the land would have looked like during the reign of Native Americans. This somehow led to Oxbear telling me about that one time they kept a pet baby rattlesnake in the kitchen back in Arkansas. Because where else but Arkansas would you raise a venomous snake around the dinner table?
Back at the Big House, Francis borrowed Puck’s plastic lightsaber for a duel against Rose. Out of all six of us kids, it’s usually Rose and Francis that go on the attack against each other the most, even at the ages of 25 and 20, respectively. However, with no clear winner declared, Francis next moved on to annoy the big fat cat, napping blissfully in the rocking chair.
“Now we’re going to simulate how Pumpkin responds to an earthquake,” Francis announced, and began to shake the chair.
Pumpkin remained unmoved and continued to nap the rest of the entire day in said chair, especially after Elmer wrapped his scarf around her neck. I guess she inspired Francis, because about twenty minutes later, I heard him snoring on the loveseat. Rose didn’t take long to follow, rolled up in a ball on the couch. And of course Mom never misses her chance at an afternoon nap. So while half the family dozed off, Elmer and Jaya went to ballroom dance class. And Oxbear took the boys outside to get muddy in their red Christmas boots.
Hours later at home, Puck was having issues finishing his dinner.
“Mom! Mom! Yali sneezed and the blood that came out of his nose was so red, it looked like jam. I just, I just can’t finish my dinner, Mom. I’m just too grossed out right now.”
Looks like I also have a son who took after me in the blood department…