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| In the cafe |
So Everett and I are on our way into town at 3:30 to do laundry, pick Emil up, and get groceries. He's driving and I'm telling him it won't hurt to go a little faster, since the road's not icy. He speeds up to 60kph, and I realize I'm hungry and will have to grab a bite to eat before we come home. It's no wonder; even though I slept till 10 it's no excuse for only having a toasted bagel (home-made) and a small glass of orange juice all day, besides my morning coffee. Tsk. "I'll be lucky if I don't get a migraine," I said. "It's probably already too late."
The routine is that I drop Everett off to get the laundry into the washing machines while I go get Emil from the group home. He will be moving into another one on Nov 30 and not to worry, Dad, he is not angling to move home in the meantime. I didn't have to pass on your grandfatherly advice to stay put till then. He's prepared to wait, so that's good.
He and I went to the Wadena Café and ordered french fries for Everett and poutine for ourselves, and I walked across the street to tell Everett to come over. After he'd eaten he went back to the laundromat to transfer wet clothing to the dryers and play with his mobile videogame thingy and I went to the hardware store for bird seed. Good sale on: 25-pound bags of sunflower seeds, regularly $20, for less than $9 each. I bought four and should probably have sprung for more. One of the young fellows working there carried them all out for me, with a smile on his face; the Co-op stores around here treat their customers right. By the way, today it's 25 below.
The highlight of the afternoon for Emil is going to the grocery store, where he might run into someone he knows and be able to chat for a while. One of his favourite people to meet there was his aide at school a few years ago and now he finds her at the checkout counter sometimes. Bingo! Even if he saw no one else familiar, Donna alone would make his day. This afternoon he saw at least two other acquaintances and introduced himself to a man I've met before. What's your name? I heard that one, but after saying hello myself and advising Emil not to delay the guy too long, I pushed my cart on down the aisle and missed the rest of the quiz. How old are you? and Where do you live? Thank goodness people are so patient and friendly, that's all I can say. And if they aren't, they pretend very well.
And so we're home here, having been warned by Scott just before leaving town to take it slow because on his way back to GGFarm he'd had deer come at his vehicle from four different directions. We didn't see any. Everett hauled in the groceries and the four heavy jugs of drinking water and I threw together a double batch of bean dish. Emil will spend the night; we'll watch a movie, and with luck Everett will make popcorn. Everything feels right in my world with both boys here. And that migraine never materialized; even better.
This is not quite a typical Saturday. Normally Everett bakes his wonder cookies. Today for some reason he didn't. Tomorrow, I bet ....
