Week Two
Ground-shaking thunder did not wake me in the night. Unfortunately. I was more awake during breakfast, a flash of lightening in the west, another. Low rumbles. Then the back windows started leaking, little waterfalls. The basement drain was also on the verge of backing up; it was about that time of year. So were El Oso’s eyeglasses; he could see better without them. Truck, glasses, drain, dryer, windows. Raining, pouring.
It was President’s Day, and with the ice, schools were closed anyway. Puck and I slid up the driveway at the Big House, a slab of frozen Atlantic.
We drove out in a cold wind, with Mom and the girls, to meet Rose at the Silverspoon’s for a couple of hours of Carrie doing Mom’s and Gloria’s nails while a second viewing of “Enchanted” took place and Puck: – you guessed it – Wall-E in the basement. I guess he wasn’t kidding about that world record. But not before he made a mess of blankets in the living room, encouraging Mom to check it out. “You can join my fortune of blankets if you want! Come on, Grandma! Take off your shoes and you can join my fortune of blankets!” Snicketts girls aren’t very good at watching romantic films though. Irish and Rose were already busy side by side on the couch with their phones. “Lydia, pay attention!” Gloria commanded with a laugh. “There’s going to be a quiz.” I don’t think Irish believed her, but she put down the phone anyway. Just before 4:30, Gloria and Mom sang each other off in farewell.
Mom fried burgers for dinner, an easy way to feed the troops, as she likes to call us. El Oso joined late after Joe and Puck had successfully crashed into one of Mom’s antique displays in the living room during an energetic match of “hit Francis’ orange birthday balloon.” Nothing was too broken.
Puppy chow snacks, chips, Coca-Cola. Another Olympics viewing in the basement: bobsled and ice dance, while Puck was tucked down in his space jams on Irish’s couch. The girls jockeyed for seats in the basement, Rose practically body slamming Carrie, crying, “OCCUPIED! OCCUPIED!” Carrie finds amusement in claiming “Rose’s” seat. Then Annamaria and Thunderbird walked in with Dairy Queen. Some favorable comment was made by Annamaria regarding a particular unnamed country that Rose and Joe disliked. “You know what, Annamaria?” Joe pouted. “You can just leave!” Annamaria is used to Joe after 24 years. “Well, you can go put your head in the toilet!” Joe began fake crying and stomped off to the bathroom. So … a few pastel combos floating over ice, a few giants thundering down slick frozen tracks, a few comments from Rose and Joe about unsightly rear-end shots – only predictable – and ten o’clock had already arrived.
Puck’s Weekly What-do-You-Want-to-be-When-You-Grow-Up Status:
“Scientist.”