The Daily Distractions
Wednesday, April 4, 2007
Kitts’ 21st birthday, down in Texas.
And it was a usual Wednesday. Although this particular day, Rose did manage to find a nutritious snack during their nine-hour study session – an orange, despite the fact that she only sucked out the juice and left the rest of the fruit in a cup. It was a step in the right direction.
She also tried to get away with stuffing Snuggles into her fleece pullover during class, although never successfully.
“I just ate so many oranges, I got fat,” she insisted, until Collette finally made her remove the cat from the fleece.
“Oh, I’m sorry, Snuggles,” Rose tugged him out of the pullover. “Collette doesn’t want you up here with us.”
She set the lump on the ground while singing a farewell ballad to him. Distractions were not appreciated during studies, and there were always an abundance of them. However, Rose did take the opportunity during a brief break that morning to serve up dishes of beef, tuna fish, and Alaskan pink salmon for all of the animals as special treats for the day. And what the cats didn’t finish, Trooper did.
Later, Rose affixed a large rubber ring around Pumpkin’s neck for no apparent reason. And Linnea made her a cat bed in one of the old kitchen benches turned upside-down on the floor (the same benches Carrie-Bri, Joe, and Rose once used to play “Oregon Trail”). She filled it with blankets and put the fat black cat inside; then she turned the other bench into a bed for her doll, Liberty-Bell, and set them side-by-side at the windows of the back patio door. Pumpkin did not move from her bed there, the entire day. Mom finally picked her up and sent her scooting away for some exercise come evening.
After the distraction of the cat had left, Rose proceeded to draw a set of large eyeballs on her leg with permanent marker.
“Rose,” Mom reprimanded her.
“Well, Mom, I never wear shorts,” she protested. “No one will ever see them.”
Sometime that day Joe returned early from the Green Lantern – few cars would come for a wash on such a frigid day. So he spent part of his extra free time purchasing a pair of good running shoes at the store. And then his afternoon was devoted to cleaning and detailing Lollipop’s convertible.
Later in the morning, Linnea played with Rose’s hair, putting it up in rubber bands and barrettes while Rose continued her studies with Collette. Although the relaxation of her hair being brushed almost put her to sleep. As a result, Collette decided that it was time for a change of scene, and hurried Rose into her shoes so that they could ride along with Mom during her errands of the afternoon while reviewing psychology.
“I wonder what I’ll be doing ten years from now,” Rose said randomly while Mom was in Michael’s. “Probably I’ll be a starving artist, dying in Africa.” She sighed, “actually, I have no idea what I’ll be doing.”
She then talked about making a pair of thumbtack earrings for herself. And eventually, she almost took a nap in the car as well. It was probably opportune timing that Mom emerged from the store in the cold wind at that moment with two packages of Andes mints in the bags. Mostly they were meant for brownies for the Maundy Thursday dinner service, but Rose managed to unwrap enough to wake herself up again.
By seven-thirty that evening, Rose had finally finished her studies for the day. Collette allowed her to join Joe, Wally, and Curly downstairs for movies. The three had just returned from Moe’s for dinner after lifting weights in the basement.