Toad Returns
Monday, July 9, 2007
“This is what the guy said on the radio this morning,” OLeif told Collette. “’Not one, not two, but three German dances. Here at Classic 99, we always give you more.’”
Over at the house that morning, Puck was greeted with a handful of shiny beaded necklaces which Rose and Francis strung from the handle of his car seat.
“No, no,” Collette had to continually tell him. “The beads aren’t for eating.”
Puck would smile bashfully as Collette removed the beads from his hands.
Later, she brought him into the living room where he danced to Mom’s and Dad’s song: “Let the Sun Shine”.
Rose was preoccupied with thinking about Six Flags and her toad.
“Buddha came back,” she said. “I came back last night and he was sitting on the step by the front door.”
“I guess he likes you,” Mom said.
“Yup. He keeps coming back. I’m going to keep him now.”
For most of the rest of the day, Rose let Buddha hop around in a large white metal bucket, which she carried with her from room to room. An occasional No, Buddha! Get back in there! would be heard from wherever she was at the moment.
Meanwhile, Joe had dumped several piles of gear on the living room floor that morning while he began to pack his bags. The countdown to take-off had begun.
Collette imagined the three boys laying stomachs-up on a white sand beach, hands behind their heads, all wearing sunglasses under a large beach umbrella. Hermit crabs would be carrying off their lunch. It was either that scenario, or they would be half-lost in the reef snorkeling with the jellyfish. Or maybe they would even be taking a drive over to a somewhat extinct volcano. No doubt Wally would do something to set it off. The next scene would be all three boys running pell-mell down the side of the volcano with boiling lava tickling their feet.
Whatever adventures awaited them, they would be leaving early the next morning from the Hobcoggins for the airport. The last piece of equipment to be packed would be the memory card for Joe’s camera. He would pick it up from the English’s sometime after Eve returned from Australia that night; (Carrie had been using it in Australia).
Eve’s plane would land at 11:39pm after layovers in San Francisco and Chicago. Two weeks away from home could often seem like an eternity for the traveler. They were sure to hear many stories about the land down under.
Carrie, on the other hand, was just leaving for Christchurch, New Zealand, close to the same time that Eve was returning. What wonders awaited in the wilds of another southern hemisphere island.
Meanwhile, a storm had been building in the west.