Your Top 50 Favorites for the Ball & Chain
Wednesday, December 14, 2005
Collette spent most of Wednesday morning, trying to settle the matter of a foreign object lodged in front of her left tonsil. A most annoying situation, and rather bizarre. She waited into the afternoon to hear which doctor she would have to see. Meanwhile, she employed various mirrors, soda fountain spoons, tweezers, silk flower stems, make-up sponges, etc. to clear the obnoxious inconvenience.
There were many old friends present that Tuesday evening at the concert, including Uncle Dan, Aunt Jo, and the twins. And both grandmas had come, of course. Grandma Combs had brought along a miniature silver Christmas tree for Rose, by request, packaged in a cylinder, as well as a box of crocheted snowflakes for OLeif’s and Collette’s Christmas tree – crafted by Great Grandma Jewel herself. Grandma Snicketts talked about seeing all the kids again at Christmas; Collette could tell that she was excited to have everyone together again, a year later. (Collette was once again reminded of “Waltzing Matilda,” but kept silent on the issue as circumstances had seemed to slightly change.) And Clover and Carrie had a chance to catch up with life, as well as Unn, Stacie, Peach Fuzz, and Paige Popp.
The concert itself went rather well, although the lighting was fluorescent, and very un-concert-like. Jims Mormon’s solo was beautiful, and the “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” madrigal performed well and very fast, (the very same which Diana, Mercy, Marigold Avonlea, Justus, Old Blue South, Bobby Chew, Violet, Collette, Carrie, Eve, OLeif, Snuffy Friendly, and Relevance South sang five years previously, decked out in scarves and Santa hats). This time, Joe brought caroling paraphernalia for Shakespeare (the black “Bah Humbug” Santa hat), for Curly (a string of light-up Christmas bulbs), Wally (a fuzzy green, like Collette’s fuzzy red), and himself – a silver angle halo. They all received a good number of laughs. Meanwhile, Carrie continued to tease Joe about a young pretty alto (whose father was Frances’ Scout leader) – Sparrow Creek,, who worked at the Dairy Queen down the road, and had a crush on him. She sang two people over from him in the madrigal.
And upon earlier having entered the church, Collette saw Theodore, Wally, and Izzy up in the balcony.
“Is your hair a different color from when last I saw it?” Theodore called down to her (who was notorious for believing that spiked or colored hair stood for rebellion). “You don’t need to cover up the gray yet, like I do, do you?”
Collette chuckled. Later she was greeted by Giggles who walked up to her.
“Is your hair different from the last time I saw you?” He asked.
“It is,” Collette replied as OLeif flipped her ponytail up over her head with his hand.
“I like it black,” Giggles decided, and walked off.
And after all had been sung, there was a stop by Steak ‘n Shake – a bowl of beef and vegetable soup for Collette (who had never before intentionally ordered anything vegetable-oriented at a restaurant in her life). Following dinner, OLeif and Collette had a few minutes to chat with Eve, who was relating how she spoke with her Mormon grandfather for several hours.
“It just goes in circles,” she sighed. “They insist that they believe the same thing that we do. But I’m not afraid – I have the truth. I just have to look to my Bible.”
And so they briefly discussed the situation, as well as the few Mormons in choir – the occasional disagreements that openly surfaced concerning their beliefs.
And then OLeif and Collette took Shakespeare to see “King Kong” the midnight showing at the movies. On the way out of the restaurant, Magnus paid his check and returned with change.
“Quarters!” He rejoiced. “I’ve got quarters!”
“Yay!” Rose exclaimed.
“Why?” He asked.
“Because I wanted to use one for the bubblegum machine,” Joe told him.
“No, don’t give them any,” OLeif insisted.
“Why not?”
Rose made a grumpy face, “Because OLeif said something about instant gratification. I don’t even know what that means.”
Magnus died of laughter. On the way to the theater, Magnus “lamented” the absence of Molly.
“Man, I am so lonely back here. Here’s the beanie baby box, and no one to play with.”
But in the end, it was a good thing that no one else had opted to come along. For, upon arrival, the parking lot was rather bare and there were no signs for the film, as showing. So they left, but found that upon arriving home, that the show was indeed to air at midnight, despite the fact that there was no showing listed at the box office.
Collette remembered seeing Eve sitting at the restaurant at the table across the room with Annamaria, Rose, and two other girls. And it suddenly occurred to Collette that Eve very much needed an OLeif or a Joseph – someone almost the same. She really did, but there was little Collette could do about it for the present, if at all. And so she set it aside for the present, and kept to her vegetable beef soup while OLeif discussed with her Edwards’ “Treatise on Grace.”
The list was out: The top 50 people Collette predicted would be married or at least engaged within the next five years, and whose weddings to which she and OLeif or their families would be invited. She felt as though she had just come out with the 95 Thesis:
Joe Snicketts
Rose Snicketts
Carrie-Bri Snicketts
Travis Snicketts
Bristol Snicketts
Samwise Snicketts
Schroeder Snicketts
Judah Black
Polly Black
Esther Black
Blessing Black
Lucia Combs
Linus Combs
Felicity Port
Diana English
Bing English
Eve English
Annamaria English
Thomas Raven
Nevermore Raven
Sylvester Raven
Kelsie Raven
Merci Pearl
Patty Pearl
Boy Pepper
Tennessee Coca-Cola
Bluetooth Coca-Cola
Wallace Silverspoon
Curly Hobcoggin
Spurgeon West
Yaotl West
Justus Orange
Evrain Orange
Joseph Pie
Magnus (Shakespeare) Pie
Elizabeth Showers
Elazar Moss
Paige Popp
Clover Biscuit
Old Blue South
Lollipop South
Amanda Snicketts
Snickerdoodle Bracken
Mercy Shepherd
Peter Shepherd
Louis Tecumseh
Catalina Washington
Judah Rye
Laurel Peach
Peach Fuzz
And that was just the beginning.