The TIV
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
In which a celebrity is met…
St. Louis was due for a mini April heatwave starting Wednesday. April was not the time for heatwaves, in Collette’s opinion. But that, of course, did not much matter.
Out to the house.
Rose was house/dog-sitting for a couple in the city all week.
In biggest news, the TIV had come to the Science Center, and Francis was dead set on seeing it. Well, truth be told, pretty much the entire family was dead set on seeing it. Joe took off class. And the cameras were sought out…
Quick breakfast for everyone: Linnea with a fry-up for Carrie, Joe with his bowl of chocolate chip oatmeal and Sproul podcast, Collette with an egg sandwich for Francis who mixed himself a fruit punch Gatorade, Puck with a banana for his second course, and OLeif walking out the door mumbling something about buying a donut on the way to work…
And because Joe was so similar in manner and dress to Reed Timmer, Carrie-Bri had a suggestion…
“Joe, wear your bright blue t-shirt and flip-flips, and when you talk to Sean Casey, use the word ‘dominating’ a lot.”
Inside Storm Chasers joke.
After Puck shocked himself a second time on the light switch plate in the basement… a ten o’clock departure for the six to Forest Park.
“We’re in the bad part of the park. The south side. This is where they find all the bodies.”
“They have to drag the lake sometimes for bodies,”……
And to the not-yet-full lot where they met Rose at the Planetarium, who stuck out her tongue in greeting.
So while Carrie waited with Rose in the car for her eleven o’clock phone interview, the others walked from the Planetarium to the other side of the highway where the TIV was parked, ready for action.
On the way, Puck weighed himself to find out how much it would cost to send himself into space.
“$340,000,” Collette read.
“Let’s do it!” Francis teased him.
Outside, Sean Casey was handing out autographs and ‘I Brake for Wind’ bumper stickers. Puck marched right up to Sean and handed him his card to sign, and hurried off to the TIV.
“Got his pass to get in,” Sean chuckled, signing it for him. “Just toss him up to that front seat there.”
Puck felt very important getting behind the steering wheel for a few moments. And photographs were taken with Sean and the TIV while the boys asked Sean a few questions. Joe wanted to know about the brightness level of the LED lights, and Francis wanted to know if the TIV was having any problems. The lights were too bright for the other drivers, yes, and the TIV was having troubles.
“I’m so glad the first celebrity I met was Sean,” said Linnea, captivated.
They crawled around the outside of the TIV and took a good amount of photographs before returning.
Back at the house for cold ham, fresh papaya, and pineapple before Creole arrived to work with Francis.
“Oh, it’s too hot,” Carrie said, when told of the temperatures in the 80’s for the weekend. “That’s why I need to live in a place like Croatia. I would actually prefer Chile or Argentina, and I will live there with my dalek cookie jar!” She laughed in a funny voice.
Linnea picked little blooms of grape hyacinth to put in a blue glass vase.
Joe, after giving Puck a miniature green water gun he had found in a recent Geocache, where he would leave, in return, ‘fake lottery tickets from the Dollar Store’… took off for biking at Klondike.
At 3:15, Collette and Carrie left for their nutritionalist appointments down by Grant’s Farm.
Things were well for both girls. Carrie celebrated with a peanut butter cookie, and Collette the same.
On the return: traffic, Carrie noting the level and position of cirrus in the early evening sky.
Carrie returned home.
Francis drove Collette to pick up a book for Linnea at the library, then to the bank, Target: cashews and laundry detergent for Collette, Chewy Chips Ahoy and a cold Sprite for Francis, to church to pick up the kids where Linnea had requested prayer for Sean Casey to repair the TIV, and then to pick up eggs and milk… and finally home, with Linnea to spend the night with Cheez-Its, Hershey’s, Whole Foods Swiss Milk Chocolate for Collette, and the BBC version with Rose from Doctor Who of Mansfield Park.
In other news, due to rough seas, Mom and Dad were not able to dock at Gibraltar to see the rock and the monkeys. But they seemed little bothered by it…