Snow Angels
Joe had become inspired by the snow. With about six inches deep of fluff all over the yard, Collette and Puck arrived just in time for his original photo shoot.
“I’m going to take a picture of myself doing snow angels with my shirt off,” he wiggled his eyebrows.
Joe was seen shortly later running pell mell through the snow drifts back to the house with the tripod flying in one hand behind him.
“COLD!” He gasped in a large bellow through the kitchen.
His back was red. And unfortunately, his picture snapped too high. He would try again, this time with Carrie behind the lens, once she had finished her own snow angels on the roof. But first, she bundled up the Puck in coat and hood, wrapped him in several blankets, stuffed him in a round laundry basket, set him on a large orange sled, and took him on a sleigh ride around the yard. Puck sucked on his wow and watched the snow pass by in stern concentration.
Meanwhile, back inside, Rose’s candy cup from the party was sitting out on the counter. Frances, who assumed this was up for grabs, took a swipe. Somehow, Rose, whose back was turned, sensed that a candy thief was about to strike, and whirled around.
“Give that back!” She commanded.
Frances laughed, red-handed, and returned the candy. Joe, whose back had recovered, walked around eating pieces off Linnea’s candy necklace. Frances was also back to the math books, trying once again to concentrate.
“Collette?”
“Yes, Frances.”
“Are some of those redwoods in California as big as our house?”
“We’ll talk about that later, Frances.”
Rose was busy scrubbing an old mouse pad with a toothbrush.
“There’s a big fat cat ready to be roasted,” said Frances, as Pumpkin ran through the kitchen.
The phone rang. Frances lunged for it.
“Oh, hi, Grandma!… No, no. You’re not interrupting anything. You just saved me from math lessons…”
Mom was serving up spicy orange chicken wings and cheeseburgers for lunch. Rose took over.
“I’m gonna be a fry cook!” She said, and took her place Indian-style on the counter next to the grill.
“Well,” Carrie said, irritated, “there goes all that food I got for Joe to bulk up on.”
The rest of the afternoon was spent running errands, which included pre-ordering a ham for Christmas from The Honeybaked Ham. Mom’s oven was still broken, and she was taking precautions.