The Unusual
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Another storm came rumbling through that Saturday evening as OLeif left for work and Mollie arrived to spend the night while her parents were bringing Jo-Jo to college in Tennessee.
The next morning brought an overload of waffles before the ride to church.
“We’re traveling buddies, Puck,” Mollie told him.
She then gave him advice on how to ask for a pony from his parents as he grew older. Then the conversation turned to the possibility of OLeif, Collette, and Puck biking to church every Sunday on a three-man bike.
“Yes!” Said Mollie. “And you can wear red and white striped jumpsuits. You’ll be Waldo and/or candy canes.”
On the way over to the house after church, Mollie talked about lace and tea parties and being dainty.
Lunch was loaded baked potatoes and fruit salad. Chocolate torte for dessert. Like the Dobos torte from Vienna. Then almost everyone napped (some of them through Charlie Chaplin’s “The Great Dictator”).
At some point during the incredibly long film, Rose and Mollie became bored and started an argument about everything.
“Rose, stop whining about not having any money for your laptop.”
“Well, you stop complaining about everything.”
“You’re just whining. Go get a job.”
“I do have a job.”
“Crochet scarves and sell them.”
“Crocheting’s dumb.”
“You’re joking me. I could sell these on the sidewalks and people would pay me a lot of money.”
“Yeah right.”
“Look at these muscles I have from crocheting.”
“I’d beat you arm wrestling any day.”
“You don’t even know. I’m going to crochet you a scarf and fill it with chiggers and give it to you. And they’ll burrow into your arms. Then see what you think of that, huh? Huh, punk!”
“Then my arms will be even stronger. Twenty to one!”
“Psssh.”
“Psssh.”
“Psssh.”
“Well all you do is cut fabric all day. You love fabric.”
“Mollie and fabric sitting in a tree. K-T-T-I-N-G…” said the ingenious OLeif.
And on it went…
“That wasn’t as bad as the argument I had with Curly,” said Rose. “It was our worst fight ever!”
Rose proudly displayed the rug burn on her elbow.
“He took the tip off the fencing sword, and then I jabbed him in the ribs with it.”
Lucia dropped in later that afternoon. Carrie was going to a concert with her that evening, downtown.
Youth soon arrived after OLeif put on a random “Name that Tune” contest for Mom, Rose, and Mollie via the music collection on his laptop.
At youth, before anyone else had arrived, Mollie went around the room doing arm circles and screeching. She had decided to become a “Mystical Incan Marmesat”, according to OLeif. Apparently that’s what the fictitious Mystical Incan Marmesats did.
It was an unusual afternoon…
For youth, it was Jimmy and Loraine, OLeif, Collette, and Puck, Augustus (crashing in sometime later after returning from a family vacation in the Ozarks), Susie, Rose, Mollie, and Nacchianti.
It was a typical gathering that turned into a visit to Dairy Queen.
“Kids meal, kids meal!” Augustus said very loudly. “I got a kids meal!”
“What toy did you get?” Rose asked him.
Augustus pulled out a bag with something pink in it.
“It’s a blow-up arm!” He shouted. “And it says ‘High Five’!”
For the rest of the meal he worked on blowing it up, which only took a few puffs of air. Then he waved it in everyone’s faces.
“I’m going to go give them high fives,” he jumped up from the table and headed to the employees behind the counter.
Then he thought twice about it and took his seat again. For the rest of the evening, the pink blow-up arm didn’t leave his sight, not even when Rose tossed her flip-flop at him for whatever ornery thing he had just done to her. After returning to the youth building, he sprawled out on the floor.
“Happy hand!”
He held it high in the air above his head, which was smashed into the carpet.
And with that, and very many other things, the evening had ended.