Smile.

Saturday, March 10, 2012

Collette had forgotten to turn the heat back on before retiring the previous night.
54 degrees that chilly Saturday morning. Indoors.
Maybe it had somehow contributed to her dream of being bit by a cobra, or a rattlesnake, or something. Linnea had been bit too, but had been given all the thick milky-white serum except for the last half-mouthful which Collette swallowed. It reportedly wasn’t enough…
And OLeif had returned at one o’clock in the morning – five hours early – with a batch of “below standards, slightly burnt” dark chocolate of which Chet Danger’s wife had passed around six pounds’ worth from her place of employment: Kakao Chocolate Company. OLeif also smelled heavily of campfire bacon.
Puck was so sound asleep when Collette woke him at 8:12, that he was still dreaming he was holding an envelope in his hand…
“Can you please take this?” he asked, lifting an empty hand up to her.
In the kitchen, Collette handed him a mug of cold milk. He took it, closed his eyes, and rambled out the usual prayer…
“Dee-or Jesus. Thank You for saving us, and thank You for saving my baby brudder in Colombia. Namen.”
While Collette made the beds, Puck bounded in with a thump.
“Puck, go finish your oatmeal.”
“Yes, Mama. But. I heard a tap and thought it was a bug. It’s a big bug. A killing bug.”
He marched back out to the kitchen, passing Puck’s Bridge on the way where Collette had set her drinking glass.
“Mama,” he said importantly, setting it on the counter. “This cup was put here with my property.”
– He bounded to the kitchen table. –
“The bug’s huge, Mama. The bug’s huge.”
When lines from Romeo and Juliet were being read on Odyssey, Puck became highly confused by the language. He ran out of the kitchen to the library…
“Dad! I need to come in!”
“What’s up, buddy?” OLeif called through the closed door.
“I need to unlock the door because I have a big question.”
– He rummaged through his lipstick case coin box for a quarter and slipped it into the lock, barging inside. –
“What were they saying?”
As the morning progressed past nine o’clock, Puck picked up a pillow from the couch, holding it in front of Collette’s face.
“What are you doing, buddy?”
“I’m keeping you from looking at things.”
Puck was used to Collette staring off into space in ridiculous medleys of imagination. And that morning was no different from any other. Puck would often try to prevent her “eyes getting big”, as he put it. But it was usually no use.
Rose checked in, late morning. She was visiting the Botanical Gardens at two.
And Collette was still under compulsive dry cough.

Their little family had been booked at 2:05 that afternoon for a photograph appointment. Church had summoned all willing participants to a directory photo-snapping session. And so that’s where they found themselves for about fifteen minutes that afternoon, inside one of the Sunday School classrooms, involving the attempt to slide in $130 or more worth of photographs, while Puck fidgeted with his metal number puzzle… they politely declined.

At the Silverspoon’s, Joe and Curly were out with Izzy and buddies filming a music video. Collette and Puck played toss-and-catch on the deck while Puck marched around in chucks, black jeans, black Olga’s bread t-shirt, dog backpack, and harmonica, yelling “Zero!” every time Collette threw the ball. She hit him three times on the head.
Joe, Curly, and Izzy returned after three. Joe was sore from “rock running” at Elephant Rocks and “cliff jumping” at Johnson’s Shut-Ins with Wally, Tor, Chester, and Joe’s GoPro camera and mechanics gloves the previous day.
And Puck raided the Cajun potato chips with Joe while Collette caught up on another rain delay game against Miami.
Gloria returned from the store with spicy BBQ wings, ciabatta bread, and veggies with dip. Followed by strawberry shortcake.
“Well hello, handsome,” she greeted OLeif. “Why are you so dressed up?”
“OLeif’s always handsome,” said Joe.
Puck got busy trying to snag banana peels on the giant tree in the backyard. One was effective. He then returned indoors for strawberry yogurt and puzzles with Curly. All puzzles contained their pieces but one, where a pink balloon was missing from the cut-outs.
“I’m going to have nightmares about that balloon,” said Curly. “It probably represents something that’s missing somewhere from my childhood.”
“You’ll need psychological counseling,” Theodore mildly suggested, as dinner was announced.

For the night, OLeif joined the three boys and Theodore for Sci-Fi at the movies.