The Wings
“Uh… Mom?…”
“Yes, Puck?”
“I am afraid I forgot to tell you that… heh heh…” he laughed a little nervously by the bathroom sink, “Yali’s toothbrush? Fell behind the toilet the other day…”
He had already used it since. Several times. Nothing like having surgery on the roof of your mouth, then scrubbing in some good old-fashioned germs. Well. C’est la vie.
After Yali and I dropped Puck off in the gym at school, we drove to Walgreen’s for a new toothbrush. Walked in to the monthly tornado siren drill warming up, walked out to it winding down. Yali grabbed the bag from the counter as we left, clearly very proud of his new purchase, and tried to open it in the car, despite the inhibitions of his “wings”.
So Yali and I spent a full day at home. I don’t know how five hours can pass in a snap, but they always do. And for once, Yali didn’t feel the need to torture Crackers for any particular reason. She actually got a full lazy-cat-style nap out in the open with zero harassment. I thank “the wings”.
It might have been early spring that afternoon for all I knew. Puck and Heidi chased each other around the playground over a pair of gloves that were hardly necessary with it being almost sixty degrees out. Yali ran after them in his “wings”. I’m beginning to think he’ll have a hard time parting with them in eleven short days.
At one point in the evening I checked in with Elmer about the possibility of their new house. He told me that chickens lived next door. I’m guessing that’s about all Jaya needed to put down an offer.
At dinner, after Puck pretty much mastered his 3s multiplication tables, he and Oxbear plowed through plates of rice and kielbasa while Yali watched with envy from his high chair. Only thirty-nine more days, my boy. Only thirty-nine more days.
An hour later, Oxbear brushed Yali’s teeth to the tunes of “The Phantom Menace” broadcasting from the phone in his pocket. By the time they had concluded that activity, Oxbear had Yali standing on the table “lightsabering” me with Puck’s golf club. Then Puck took a break from the math to join them with his nine-dollar Wal-Mart version. Full-out battle, soundtrack still playing from Oxbear’s jeans. Yali went down to bed late.