Warts, Blisters, & Bugs

“HELLO, GA GA!”

“HELLO, GA GA!”

Puck and Yali were already deep into another 7AM wrestling match in the back room while I packed us up to leave. And, as usual, whatever Puck yelled, Yali also yelled. I don’t even know what they’re saying to each other half the time.

Caught in traffic on the way to school…

“Mom, what’s this bump on my hand?”

“Um … I don’t know. Could be a wart starting.”

“A WART?!”

“I don’t know. Maybe. I’ve never had a wart before, so I don’t know.”

“AHH!”

I let him mull that one over for a few moments.

“Hey, Mom?”

“Yup?”

“Remember when I had that blister that was shaped like a bean?”

“I think so.”

“It was so fun picking off the skin after it popped.” He pondered this a little while longer and then concluded, “I don’t know where all the goo from it went though.”

Another warm summer afternoon, even though it was autumn now. Puck, Yali, and Annie-Bea congregated on the playground together. They had a great time until…

“AHH! AHH! AHHHHH!” Annie-Bea shrieked, abandoning the play equipment like it was lava. “BUGS! BUGS! BUGS!”

Stink bug city. They were everywhere. Puck went on the attack to disband the unit housed on the slide, which took more than one offensive advance to clear out the enemy. But Annie-Bea still never returned to the play equipment.

Right before bedtime, Puck hustled downstairs to say goodnight.

“Uh, Dad? I just sprayed this disinfectant stuff in the bathroom because I wanted to see if it really smelled like a spring waterfall. And it did. But then some of it got in my mouth. Like five hundred particles. Is that poisonous?”

“Oh no. If it had been, like, four hundred fifty particles, you would have been okay. But five hundred?”

“Dad, you’re kidding. … You’re kidding, right?”

Countdown till moving: 9 days.