The Games Continued
Collette stayed up late enough on Saturday night to watch Apolo Ohno take his bronze in the 1000 meters and make history by becoming the most decorated U.S. Winter Olympian. Everyone was there to see it, including Bonnie Blair and Michael Phelps. It was a good race, as he came from the back around the Canadian brothers just behind the Koreans who had wiped out only a week prior.
And despite a very poor call by the ref in one of the qualification rounds for J.R. Celski, at least Apolo had his seventh medal, despite the misfortune of his younger nineteen year-old teammate.
At breakfast, Puck was busy playing some airball with his mama.
“Come here, little Mama!” he said happily, tossing her the imaginary ball.
Meanwhile, after the morning service, during which rain flooded over the surrounding fields and Puck served tea to his grandma and his Lila in the nursery, Collette tried not to stuff herself with too many Reeses peanut butter chocolate Easter eggs, which clearly Grandma had left from the day before… oh, the temptation.
That afternoon, OLeif and Collette took Puck on a nice ride into Augusta in the cold rain and mist so that he would fall asleep, all ‘warm and toasty’ as he liked to put it. And he did.
When they returned, Joe was still out in the street on his waveboard, and took a couple of backward dives into the mud.
This was followed by Collette helping Rose with some passages of mathematics while she watched Rose’s 1970’s BBC version of Much Ado About Nothing from the library.
Shortly later, while OLeif prepared the photo shoot, involving detailed costume, bright face paint powders, etc., Collette and Puck left for church with Rose and Francis and Linnea for the youth fundraiser dinner where they shared a table with Creole and Gaston, the usual peanut gallery.
After plates of beef fajitas and tacos, and chocolate brownies and ice cream, in which Puck very gladly shared… the entertainment commenced…
About the time the twin high school girls in prom dresses had finished their karaoke version of I Can Only Imagine, and another high school girl a violin concerto, and yet another older high school girl eagerly took the microphone to sing a pop version of Somewhere Over the Rainbow, Gaston let out a groan, dropping his head onto the table… “Oh my gosh!”
Back home, Collette caught the last power-punched moments of the biggest hockey game of — who knows how big it was actually — the Americans ‘crushing’ the Canadians, 5 to 3. The first time the Men’s American hockey team had beat the Canadians since 1960.
And then Bode Miller — gone from zero medals in Torino, to a silver, bronze, and then finally gold in Vancouver. And two more events to follow.
The United States led in the medal count, not that it really mattered, as opposed to the Torino Games, in which Germany had led. Collette had been pleasantly surprised with the Vancouver Games. About as exciting as had been Beijing. Her addiction was a little super.
“So I guess this is the only time OLeif becomes a football widow?” Gloria had teased her.