The Tire

Sunday, August 29, 2010

The night had been riddled with strange dreams. Of past times… and future times…

Meanwhile, at church, things were as usual. And Ichabod Coca-Cola gave his testimony. Puck’s Sunday School teacher gave him a goody bag, which she called a ‘happy’, as it was her last day to teach for that quarter.

And then, over to the house to wait for Puck to finish church with his nana and papa. His first question, right off the bat, was, “Do you have Donkey?” And on the way home, he amused himself with the books OLeif had brought for him from the library. And the squishy little frogs from his teacher, which were a huge hit.

Back to the house where Carrie-Bri and Rose had returned from church.

“All the little old ladies turn around and wave to Rose when we come in,” said Carrie. “One of them was blowing kisses to her during communion.

And lunch: for pans of gooey-sweet monkey bread, and spinach and egg quiche and apple cider, all from the skilled hands of Carrie, who had been hired once again to do all of the cooking and baking, because she was that good. And bowls of juicy strawberries.

Collette learned during the early afternoon hours that the keys had finally been retrieved from the tree. As the story went, Dad had climbed up the tree, practically to the top. The trees were getting so old, they all towered above the top of the roof of the house. And once there, he extended a pole of some sort into the leaves to loosen the keys attached to a white shoestring. And down they came.

Then Francis shared how he and Creole had busted down Puff ‘o Lump’s bedroom door. By accident.

Come two-thirty, it was time for another trip out to the Finn Inn. Except for Rose, who had gone hiking with her buddies, come back, and then out again for pizza. And Joe began a series of interpretive dance set to Somewhere in Time and Out of Africa.

It was a warm day. Collette thought in the back of her head… “Well, if we get stranded out there for some reason, I guess we’ll have to call in Rose…”

There were bottles of water in the back of the van and Carrie had her water-mister. She sprayed the back of Dad’s head.

“Carrie!”

She giggled. “Could I give you a mohawk, Dad?” she asked.

“No. I already have a reverse one.”

It wasn’t long before they passed a motorcycle gang, which they were obliged to penetrate in changing lanes for a few moments.

“I’ll bet they’re mad at us now.”

Halfway down the highway, Carrie pulled out a pen.

“Could I draw a tattoo on your head, Dad?”

“No.”

Suddenly, there was an unusual sort of… rattling, coming from the back right corner of the van.

“Uh… What’s going on back there?”

The whole van started shaking.

“It’s the tire.”

“The wheel. There’s something wrong with it.”

“It’s bulging.”

“Dad, we’d better get off the highway.”

“Could be dry-rotted, Dad.”

“Might be going flat.”

“Seriously, Dad, we should get off the highway.”

“I’m getting nervous…” Francis announced with an uncomfortable grin.

“Maybe that motorcycle gang threw a dart at it,” said Carrie.

When they finally pulled off the road at a hospital under construction, Dad and boys got out to inspect. Dad had a funny giggle already. Yes, the tire was, indeed, bulged.

“So,” said Mom, “we’re going to my mom’s to fix the tire?”

“Is that a shade tree over there?” Dad quickly asked. “That looks like a better place…”

Road closed ahead. A few turnabouts…

“Look out when making left turns, Dad,” Joe called out from the back. “This thing could flip over even at these speeds.”

…and they made it in one piece to Grandma’s. All four boys got out of the car to change the tire.

“Watch out,” Dad instructed. “That thing could explode in your face and kill you.”

Meanwhile, Puck was with his two grandmas and Carrie, playing with light-up lighthouses, ‘baby cars!’, and chowing down on a bag of cheese straws.

“You may take that home, Puck,” Grandma told him.

“The whole thing!” Puck exclaimed. “I can take the whole thing? Daddy! Grandma Combs said I could take the whole thing!”

And the tire didn’t explode, but the two hundred dollar ‘spare’ tire was held down with rusty bolts, and was being difficult, and… well, twenty minutes later and Linnea-Irish chasing Francis around the little empty parking lot with Carrie’s spray bottle… the deed was done, and they were back on the road… until…

Dtttt dttt dttt dttt…

The van was dead. Again…

So after jumping it… Grandma saw them off again by singing, ‘Friendship! Friendship! Just the perfect blendship!’

“Hey, Francis, why don’t you just help Grandma back inside…” Dad laughed.

And Puck laughed aloud with the whole vanload.

On the way home, OLeif told Puck not to drink from his water bottle, because he was a little sick.

Puck thought for a few moments, and said, “I’m sorry you have germs, Daddy.” Then he brightened. “Sometimes they fall off.”

Everyone crashed back at the house for Little Caesar’s and I Love Lucy, and Francis was dropped off at youth group to knock around with his buddies.

Back home before bed, OLeif and Puck played ‘robot’ with a box on Puck’s head.

It had been a good week.