The Great Move

Saturday, December 3, 2011
In which the fourth bird leaves the nest…

Collette was not feeling too great that morning. She found herself likely half awake when she noted to OLeif that…
“You smell like macaroni and cheese.”
OLeif was prepared with a proper response…
“I am macaroni and cheese.”

They were on the road by 8:24. OLeif and Puck had a Christmas program rehearsal at church, and Collette was to help with the first round of the move.
So back on the ranch…
Apparently Francis was in trouble with the girls. He had already had tea thrown on him…
Rose was relaying her previous night’s dream…
“And I fell down a cliff and a snake bit me.”
Carrie cut in…
“And I was that snake.”
Carrie recommended a little Tylenol for Collette, which helped.
Rose’s greenery was being gathered together for departure…
“Well, Genesis,” said Carrie, looking over to the bedraggled palm, “It’s been fun. Sorry about Earnest eating your better half…”
“I’ve named it Exodus now,” said Rose.
“Hey, you want to try nursing Valencia back to health?”
Magnus arrived at ten. Via Rose’s suggestion, he sneaked downstairs to wake up Joe. This involved jumping on him while the cat was already sleeping on his head.
The procession of boxes began to rise from the basement. Magnus grabbed a stack, reading Rose’s handwriting on the top box…
“Dalek pitcher?… OK, I’m not going to read any more labels.”
Although the box right after it read: ‘Rocks from Egypt’.
There was a lot of stuff. But the brass bed, dresser, desk, and loveseat would not make the first load, as everyone began discussing and arguing as to how everything should be properly fit into the van.
Somewhere in the hubbub, Earnest emerged from Carrie’s room…
“Oh, baby! What happened to you?”
— His left set of whiskers had clearly been singed. —
“I thought I smelled something burning.”
Not long later, Joe, Francis, Collette, Rose, and Magnus took their seats in the green monster. And a plate of caramely-oatmeal cookies baked by Carrie. But Joe didn’t seem to be too eager to drive away…
“Pondering all the memories?” Magnus asked. “All those great times at home…”
“The time you got stung by all those bees!” Joe added.

As they drove past the abandoned hospital guarded by ghostly images of the weeping angels, Joe and Magnus got pumped to figure out how they could get Wally Sr. to give them an indoor tour.
So the apartment: just right for Rose. Sizable. Arched doorways. Original 1920’s features. Wood floors. Scratchy old windows. A lot of windows. Ten, to be precise. Adequate closets. And sort of smoothed-adobe-type walls.
Francis got to work taking the hinges off the living room closet doors, as they would not unlock with the original key.
They waited around for OLeif for awhile.
“He said he was going to be here soon…” said Rose.
“Yeah, but could you really decipher what he was saying through his beard?” asked Magnus.
OLeif did arrive some short time later with the set of turquoise-cushioned ‘spinny chairs’ and Exodus.

Then the two vehicles split off: Francis, Magnus, and Rose to pick up Rose’s loveseat and three Pizza Hut pizzas. And the others back to the house where Carrie was preparing to depart for church.
Back at the house, gifts from Daisy-Jean were waiting for Collette, including a ten-dollar Chick-fil-A card and a wedge of peppermint Ghirardelli.

Back out for the second drop-off.
The only dilemma of the day arrived with the leather loveseat, which was more of a pale powder greenish-blue. Somehow it did not fit into the back door. Or the front door. Remedies would be undertaken the following afternoon.
It was about four o’clock. Rose had to leave to set up communion before church and shopping to supply her tiny abode with groceries and necessities. This did not include the mattress, which would not arrive until the following week. Yes, Rose would be sleeping on the hardwood floor for five nights.
Some tossing of Donkey up and down the stairs outside, and then over in the cooling gray to Turtle Park to run around on the reptiles.
Joe had potential later-evening plans with Magnus.
Carrie was at Momo’s with Jashub, his buddy from Columbia, and her old-time choir pal.

And home in the rainy night.
Snow was due on Monday.

A little melancholy, you know; seven years, three months, and five days after the first one leaves, the second one goes. Even if it was only 25 miles away from home. But Rose had a good Roseable apartment. And on summer nights with the windows open, when things got quiet, she would be able to hear the lions roar from the Zoo.