The Way God Made It
Tuesday, August 2, 2005
“You’re the best person that I love…” OLeif mumbled, half-asleep, to Collette that morning.
OLeif had a way of putting things in a very unconventional way, especially when he had just woken up.
In the news of the day – Rose’s hair had received a new color – brown. The first real brown her hair had ever seen, as she, out of them all, had always had the most blond.
Tuesday had been planned for several hours at the park for Mom, Francis, and Linnea with the Englishs while Joe watched “I Love Lucy” and worked on his Eagle project. Carrie took Rose up to the salon to get her hair cut. And the tea house was reserved for 12:30, with Linnea’s piano lesson out in Augusta at three, and the coffee house for dinner that night with Elizabeth and Joseph. However… man plans his steps and God guides them.
Grandma Snicketts called just as Mom was prepared to leave for the park. She had experienced a great deal of pain, (worse than all her surgeries and childbirth, she said. And Grandma never exaggerated). Dad called her after Mom got off the phone with her. Grandma said she was going down to vote and would then call the doctor. But Dad insisted she call immediately. He said her symptoms were classic of a heart attack. And so Mom would take her to the doctor, and they waited until 1:30 to hear any news.
As it turned out, after Mom took Grandma to the doctor, Grandma appeared to be fine, only having possibly been subject to a form of allergic reaction after having come off her annison for some other reason. The doctor would run tests to be sure and they would know later. He shook a finger in her face, however, reprimanding her severely for not having called 9-1-1 after her symptoms began. For they were indeed characteristic of a heart attack.
Meanwhile, Rose’s hair was looking quite sophisticated. The brown made her look several years older, which Collette was not entirely sure Dad would be pleased over. In fact she knew his first words would be (if he noticed it immediately, which was not necessarily likely):
“Why don’t you just leave your hair the way God made it?”
And Collette was most disappointed to find out that she would not be able to attend the welcome-home gang at the airport to greet Mr. and Mrs. English and Jules Verne, as they would be returning August 12th, a Friday afternoon when Collette worked. But there would be pictures, which would have to suffice, although it was a rotten shame to miss.
Meanwhile, all six kids had worked on the basement, sifting through old Star Wars memorabilia and stuffing the cats on top of the cabinets to sun themselves under the lights. Carrie turned on her rockin’ music and dug up a pair of abnormally over-sized pink plastic sunglasses with the lenses popped out. She placed these fashionably on her face and proceeded to take turns whirling on the sit ‘n spin with Linnea.
“Whoo hoo!” She exclaimed, battling Linnea over whose turn came next.