To South America
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Though it was late October, Mom and Collette set out to plant the tulip bulbs. It was a cold enough morning for Collette to pull on the bright red winter coat which Carrie had given her from Australia. Puck fussed while OLeif snuggled Puck’s little fleece hat over his ears, but he was soon grateful for the warmth upon entering the outdoors. He was becoming more chubby with happiness as the days passed.
OLeif dropped them off at the house as Carrie-Bri was seeing to final details before departure.
“Oof!”
She laid her backpack on the rug in the living room. Paired with her carry-on bag, she was taking on a heavier luggage weight.
“More clothes this time,” she said. “Elizabeth and I decided to dress nicer for this trip.”
“We’ll see what you look like after you get off the plane this time,” said Mom. “When you got back from Australia you looked like something that had been living in the bush.”
“Rose, come here,” Carrie walked over to the couch where Rose was studying. “I need you to bite this ring closed in my ear.”
“What?” Rose screeched. “I’m not doing that. Last time you slapped me when I pinched your ear trying to do that.”
“Bite it instead this time.”
“No.”
Carrie found another way without the use of Rose’s teeth.
“Has anyone seen my Spanish phrasebook? I don’t even know how to ask where our hotel is without it.”
Thankfully the book was located on her bed in a box of Spanish flashcards.
Soon, Elizabeth arrived and with Mom behind the wheel, they were sent off in the minivan with all luggage zipped down and ready for take off. Collette and Puck accompanied them on the ride. While Puck banged his rattle and talked very loudly from the back seat, Carrie read some of the phrases from her book:
“I feel like I need to throw up.”
And:
“I feel like I’m going to explode.”
“Now don’t eat anything from the vendors on the streets,” Mom was saying.
“Well, I don’t think it would hurt us,” said Carrie. “The Argentines love their barbecue.”
“Don’t worry,” Elizabeth cut in. “We won’t. My mom already gave me the lecture about that.”
By noon, they had arrived at the airport, and after the goodbyes had been said and Puck had been given a squeeze from his Aunt Carrie, both girls were off on another adventure. After a three-hour layover in Miami. And a nine-hour flight to Buenos Aires.
Back on the ranch, while the kids scattered to their various activities of the day, Mom and Collete enjoyed sandwiches from the St. Louis Bread Company. Then Grandma Combs and her cousin, Eartha, dropped in. Collette had forgotten that there was another side of the family that she never saw. Third cousins somewhere out there, maybe in Connecticut. Eartha’s parents had been Great Grandma Jewel’s cousins, Rupert and Liza, from what Collette remembered.
“They had a color television when I was a kid,” Mom had said. “And we would go over there once a year to watch the musical ‘Cinderella’. It was so exciting to go over there. And then when it was over, Rupert would say, ‘Alright, now everyone put a quarter on the set’. They could cook too. Eartha is a great cook. They double the ingredients in their recipes, particularly butter, eggs, and cream. Terrible for you, but, oh, so good. And Eartha had braces back in a time when no one had braces. My parents never even thought of getting us braces. But Eartha had them. And I remember that Rupert and Liza were so upset with her after her wedding pictures, because she didn’t smile in any of them. ‘All that money spent on her teeth!’ Rupert had said. ‘And she didn’t even smile’.”
Funny the family tales.
In the afternoon, Puck sat in his bouncy in the sun while Mom and Collette planted the flower beds: tulips, grape hyacinth, and English bluebells.
By the time 6:00 had arrived, Augustus pulled up from work to drive with OLeif to the final Nickel Creek performance at The Pageant. They would there be joined by Joseph, Joe, Magnus, Wally, Curly, Rose, Lolli, Starr, Tor, and Izzy.