Smash, Cluck, Snip
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
There it went.
Smash.
Another one of Collette’s favorite plates. Squared. Spring green and turquoise. It had been awhile since anything had been shattered by her boys. And as the ceramic bits supernova-ed over the floor…
“We can make another one?” Puck asked sorrowfully.
“I’m afraid not, buddy.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
– He came over to give Collette a hug. –
“I’m sorry, Mama.”
“Thanks, buddy. It was an accident.”
– She handed him the empty bread bag. –
“Could you throw this away for me, please?”
“Sure.”
He walked to the trash can and put the bag inside, noting the shards of plate resting on top of the heap…
“Goodbye, Plate.”
He blew it a kiss.
Tasha’s son and buddy were finally drilling holes in the yard for the fence. Puck watched eagerly from his bedroom window, wishing to take at least some part in the activity, even if by observance only.
At ten o’clock, Collette offered a small peanut butter cup to be eaten at that time, or in the afternoon. Puck, surprisingly, chose to save the treat for the afternoon. A bowl of green grapes satisfied his hunger until noon.
A cup of milk for Collette, and outside to the warm sun. The neighbor across the street – their yard was a veritable garden of dandelions – while patches of ruffly green ivy were taking over their own.
Puck was busy, on the hunt. After Collette had found another too-big-to-feel-safe spider roboting rapidly across the kitchen floor that morning, Puck was up in arms.
“Let’s call Grandma by dawn to tell her spiders are haunting our houses. I’m going to search for spiders and stuff and pick them up with my stick. This is my search stick. You’ll have to stay away from that plant from now on, Mama. Do you know why? This could be a spider house. Because that would be a good hiding pot for a spider.”
Collette ate the last bite of her omelet, which resembled the state of Georgia. Puck was listening to an Adventures in Odyssey about a piece of Jesus’ robe…
“Wait, Mama?” he asked concerned. “Was Jesus naked?”
“He might have been on the cross. We think He was. It was an humiliating thing they did to Him.”
“He really was?”
“We think so.”
“Well. We shouldn’t ask God about it…” he wrinkled his nose while shaking his head. “That wouldn’t… be right.”
“I think one day you will know. But it won’t mean the same way then, I don’t think.”
“Well, you can ask Him, Mama.”
In tradition, Puck’s birthday gift had been a donation to World Vision, this time to the Maximum Impact Fund, which, in turn, sent him a small gift in the mail. A fat white package was slipped into the mail box, which Puck eagerly opened. In the cardboard box, nestled in red accordion confetti, was a stuffed baby chick.
“What are you going to call him?”
“Chick Love!”
OLeif also suggested – “Mr. Cluck-Pants”.
Collette tacked on a little reading about Cleopatra as Puck sought shade in the mid-afternoon. The heat of the week had arrived, and would only taper into the 70’s in the next days.
OLeif had picked up the title for the Mazda, a stack at the library, squared away the insurance, and returned home in time for pork chops, including some pizza-flavored Stax potato crisps for the boys. Superman then commenced to review catechism with Puck before enjoying a session of wrestling.
Meanwhile, Collette’s hair was coming off – that was the plan anyway.
Maybe about a foot of it; she hadn’t quite yet determined. She liked it long, but her hair brush and items very good at snagging and pulling… did not.
When Collette had informed Puck that her hair was being cut off, Puck wrinkled his face…
“Are you gonna be like Grandpa or somethin’?”
Bags were packed for the rest of the week. As it turned out, they were to house-sit again after all, while Theodore and Gloria visited with Kitts in Ohio.