For a while it was just me and Vivienne at the library. “Awkward,” said V. But we went out to shoot hoops while we waited. To add to our mojo we made up pre-shot chants: (hers) “By the power of the leaf blower and farting cats!” (mine–definitely modeled on hers) “By the power of the leaf blower and barfing dogs!” We were hitting the hoop fairly often so, if you are having trouble making your shots feel free to use our chants.
Mr. John arrived. He kept the cheese melts from burning. After appealing to the gods of farting cats and barfing dogs we went in to play concentration (I bought a new deck of cards so we had all the cards for a change). Mr. John, Vivienne and I were playing when Klark and Olivia jetted in on their skateboards (Klark just got his for his birthday). Both Klark and Olivia have great memories. Vivienne could hold her own just fine. Mr. John and I pretended (convincingly) to be memory-impaired old people.
Then we did one of the exercises I just used at the writer’s retreat that ended yesterday. We drew words from jars (a verb, a noun, an adjective) and created short, ridiculous scenarios.
Then there was a surge of interest in the two skateboards (Vivienne once again went down Marcia Avenue on her belly as if paddling out to catch a big wave). By then it was time for chocolate cake in the driveway (more elegant than it sounds). Vivienne ate hers while standing on a skateboard rocking back and forth–a quiet but good day at the FPL.