Sweltering

Monday, August 6, 2007

Over at the house for more archiving… On the way over, Collette absently wondered to herself why the window had been broken in the church sanctuary. It was too high for a rock to have hit it from a lawn mower.

Puck was in a feisty mood that day. Collette had brought his bouncy seat with the swinging stuffed animals over the top. Francis strapped in some fresh batteries so the whole contraption would light up and play songs for him whenever he took a swipe at it, which was often.

Meanwhile, he enjoyed pulling on his Aunt Carrie’s hair.

“Argh!” He grunted, taking another handful, and giving it a good pull.

Later, after Collette had helped Rose register for fall exams, Rose poured herself a glass of milk and put on a National Geographic tape from the library about Osama bin Laden’s spies in the United States.

“Our ancestor founded National Geographic,” she said. “And I don’t even get a discount!”

While Puck napped, Collette hitched a ride with Mom to the Antique Mall after a cold drink to hunt down some picture frames for OLeif’s wall of photos. Not finding any, she returned in time for Mom to feed Puck his bottle and for her to type more notes on New Zealand for Carrie.

Then she read Dad’s paper about an online educational system which sparked more ideas. If only he was able to put it together for actual use.

Outside, the day sweltered. “A furnace”, as Dad put it.

Downstairs, Linnea and her neighbor friend created worlds for their Webkins (stuffed animals with virtual worlds on computer games).

“This is its Chinese peace garden,” Linnea’s friend was saying.

“Look at its sweet house,” Linnea showed Collette her Webkins’ lodging underneath Rose’s old fish tank.

There was even time that day to read some of Rose’s “Dennis the Menace”, before leaving.