Soulard Day

Friday, December 3, 2010

Collette woke from a dream of Ray Charles playing the piano, with dreadlocks to his elbows, singing a song entitled Spit in my Heart, a gospel tune. In the dream, Collette had seen some sort of Biblical reference that had inspired the song, and yet when she woke, she had forgotten it. The only explanation Collette could imagine was that it referred to Jesus spitting in a bit of dirt and rubbing it on the man’s eyes, thereby, inadvertently, touching his heart by the miracle, and in a roundabout way affecting Ray Charles as well, because he, too, had been blind…

Meanwhile, in more important news, it was Soulard-Crown Candy day. And this time, the register also included Uncle Mo and Dad.

As they were preparing to leave early that morning, Puck was talking about his baby brother in Colombia.

“He’s far, far away,” he said to OLeif. “You have to wait for an airplane to go there.”

The day was cold, but expected. Half-gray.

A two-car caravan and nine o’clock saw them meeting up with Uncle Mo and Grandma Combs.

Good old Soulard. They parked in their usual spot, at the meters outside the factory where Mom had bought Collette’s baby carriage, which were now the loft apartments.

It was the usual excursion, beginning with the goat cheese, and then the olive oil and pasta and freshly baked bread from the Italian bakery.

“Just came out of the oven at 4:30 this morning,” said the man behind the table.

And the animal shop to look over the bunnies and kittens. Three kittens in total. One for ten dollars. Or two for eighteen.

“I’m gonna get Puck a kitten,” said Joe.

“Yeah right,” Collette replied.

“You’d better respect me,” Joe joked. “Or I’m gonna give him two kittens and an espresso.”

Then back inside to inspect the new Soulard Florist and the old spice shop filled with cheeses, deli meats, every spice imaginable, oils, dips, etc., etc. They picked up smoked cheddar, gouda, and OMG Brownie Mix for Comedy Night.

Puck watched the cheerful lady slicing the salami behind the counter.

“I want one of those,” said Puck, pointing to the deli slicer.

And down to the rows of gleaming fruits and vegetables in beautiful stacks, the fish and bacon and beef. Francis got his Francis-sized watermelon for $1.90…

“Did you see if it was ripe?” Rose asked him. “Thump it.”

Francis did so.

“What does it sound like?”

Francis grinned. “It sounds like a watermelon.”

Linnea carted off a full box of red peppers for $6.00. Grandma took a couple of pomegranates for $2.80. And then the decks of Christmas candies and chocolate-covered nuts.

“This is where we’re going to shop when I get my apartment and you move to the city,” Rose told Collette. “Your grocery bill will be half of what it was.”

Then Crown Candy Kitchen. It was amazing the renovations taking place on the old street, so different from what it had been the previous holiday season. It was culturally appropriate, era-preserved, and looking beautiful, with a view of the Arch at the end of the street.

Inside, it was the usual delicious plates of sandwiches and chili, fast service, amazing malts… and the BLT Heart Stopper for the boys.

“Well,” said Joe, before taking his first bite, “see you in Heaven.”

“I can feel the grease coursing through my veins,” Francis added.

Before leaving, OLeif took Puck up to the candy counter where he picked out some Swedish fish. And OLeif bought Collette a fat peanut butter cup.

The afternoon and into the evening was still gray.

Grandma was to spend the night at the house. And she opened her book from Collette.

While the boys watched Up at home, Collette visited Target for a pair of skinny jeans for her little man — required uniform for the Christmas program, a two-dollar box of white Christmas lights to restring the tree, and a package of Double Stuf Oreos for the cookie and punch reception on Sunday night.

After taco soup and lime tortilla chips for dinner, courtesy of Mom, Puck — in oversized praying mantis shirt and giant SpongeBob slippers — walked around the house playing, rather well, on the old bugle.

Comedy night then commenced, and with Joe, Wally, and Rose, for three and a half hours of laughs, the boys playing games on their iPhones, and finally Wally falling asleep on the old microbead pink pillar pillow.

Post 2015