The Creatures

The rain came down in sheets, thick silver curtains, from morning until evening. Mom, as usual, had the windows open to the cool blue-gray winds.
“It feels like a beach-front house here,” said Carrie. “The winds are so high.”
Despite the wash-out, Mom, Collette, Carrie-Bri, and Puck headed over to Trader Joe’s that morning.
Puck saw it even before they entered the store.
“Bah bah!” he cried, looking through the front glass windows as Collette buckled him into the shopping cart.
“What, buddy?” Collette asked him.
He continued to ask for “bahs” as they walked through the store. And then Collette saw them. He was pointing to the balloons strung up near the cash registers. As they passed the front, Collette asked for a balloon, which he gladly took, hugging the chubby red thing to himself.
Meanwhile, when Collette added a box of peanut butter cups to her shopping cart, Carrie couldn’t resist and also put a box in Mom’s cart. Out in the van, as they drove through the rain listening to “Silk Road”, Carrie asked for the box. She was having difficulty opening the wrapping.
“What is this, Fort Knox?” she exclaimed after awhile.
Back at the house, there were discussions going around the lunch table about sleeping arrangements.
“I’m so tired,” Carried moaned. “These… creatures wake me up in the middle of the night. Last time it was Francis coming in with a screwdriver in the middle of the night to fix the CD player because he wanted to listen to it. Or it’s the dog chewing on himself. I’m the oldest one at home. Why can’t I just have a room to myself?”
Linnea was also known to kick in her sleep.
“Seriously, why are they all always in there?” Collette asked. “Can’t they sleep in their own rooms?”
“I don’t know! I’m tired of hearing the dog munching on himself for a midnight snack. I can’t have a quiet night’s sleep.
No, instead I get the stinkies in my room.”
And all day, Puck was happily handing out hugs and kisses.