The Monday Before We Left

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD! YOU'RE THE BEST DAD ANYONE COULD EVER HOPE FOR! YOU ARE KIND, UNDERSTANDABLE, STRONG, SMART, AND WISE! Happy Birthday, and I hope you have a great day at... wherever we go today, birthday boy! I know you probably won't like me saying this, but Dad is 60 years old today! Can you believe it? Dad, you have helped me in times of need, shown me paths to getting better, and have tucked me in and dealt with my vomit many a time, or gotten a splinter out, or taken me places, and I've learned so much from you. Our serious conversations in your office are the most contributors of that, or our long drives on the horizon.

Determined

Awesome

Victorious

Intelligent

Dad.

Enjoy your very special day!

I am sorry I am so far behind in my blogs, that I am almost three weeks behind. I only publish about one a day. It's been so bad. Here's an analogy: It's like our national deficit. It was started to get something else, a little relaxation and other things. Only a little to begin with. As I tried to "pay" it off, it kept getting bigger as the days progressed. I would write one, and do it in parts, trying to give something and to have something for my "people", really readers. I go tenuous lengths to get this done, but to no avail as the money keeps getting bigger, as I tell myself I'll do it tomorrow or come up with excuses. That has been laziness on my part, I do confess. Then, I try to get it back, determined, and try to cut off the "programs", blogs, by writing them. The Solyndra (Henry's three part birthday) and Stimulus plan (Westin and I'sExcursion to Lineville, AL) have been hard to tackle, but have eventually provided more "money", blog posts. Now, even with these various efforts and different ways of doing this, we still have a deficit. I believe I might always have a deficit. I might even be so bad that I will have to be voted out and someone else "run the country", do the blog posts. Maybe Mom Romney or Rebecca Santiorum. Or even Ron David Bourne! Sorry, but I don't have one for Newt Gingrich.

So now, I will try to be done with this deficit, once and for all. My government will always once in a while owe "money" (have to do some blog posts) but I will work toward getting rid of the "programs" I have to write, and only having two days' blog posts I have to write. Now, what are we doing talking about what we're GONNA do! Let's get this done, people! Move, move, move! (well, your only job is to read it, actually. So, read, read, read!)

Well, the clock was ticking down to how many days we had left, saying our goodbyes to good friends, and family included, packing, packing, and packing (if you say things three times in a row it makes a certain mark on the post, of some emphasis). Well, actually not too much packing. But on Monday we did. A lot. Julie came over and helped us out a little. She (I believe) stayed the night. It was going to be a fun day, in some respects. In others, long, in towing clothing and books and other things to the R.V., and putting them away. Taking no shower, only white t-shirt and shorts on, sweating like donkeys in August even though it was in January. Julie helped us with clothes and stuff even in the early hours of the day, as early as Ten. She dedicated sole hours of service and kindness, taking off from work. She was on the book Catching Fire by now. Mom did take a shower after Julie did, she wanted to do it before the Andy Clan kids got here. She then came up, awaiting her duties, and, finding that Mom was in the shower and she couldn't do anything without her command, she asked me to go downstairs and get her book. I then retrieved it and brought it up, but she was already deciding to eat butter toast. I hate those things. Smelly, buttery, and having an irreplaceable odor, it makes me almost faint to even describe it!

After Mom showered, she made me take some hangers to her closet in the R.V., and then some of her clothes. Such a grueling task for so young a boy! Julie was stationed in the R.V., as Rebecca took down her clothes and I mine. We put them on the dining room table as Julie sorted them out, saying I couldn't bring some and could bring others. "No, by the time of spring you won't be able to fit in this." I put it away. I was a lot more understandable and fast than the first time, where I was rather difficult. I guess this time I knew I wouldn't wear those clothes, and I knew the trip was going to be great so I wasn't as mean. I took more longer sleeved shirts, and also a few I hadn't brought on the first half that still fit me, that I wanted to have some variety. I also took some of my books down, all the ones I hadn't read and wanted to read. I found the two Mark Twain books I got in Hannibal, MO; I couldn't find them over the break. I also took the books I'd gotten with Lauren, and the Redwall books, plus the Hunger Games book Mockingjay, To Kill A Mocking Bird, and that bio of B.F. I was reading. Plus some others, like the Sherlock Holmes I got at the antique store and at Christmas. That was about it. I took those down to the R.V., and decided which went where. The Redwall's went in a cabinet by the dinner table and behind the dog crate, with Lauren's books, and some of the Sherlock Holmes and Mockinjay went in a cabinet above my couch,with a dictionary, pocket knife case, and astronomy guide, to the right. On the little windowsill where I kept books were the two M.T's (Mark Twain's), and the Bible, and MockingBird and the bio. To the right of all that was a brown little box, with, some lotion, a harmonica, a whoopy cushion, a spinning top, and last, but not least, a smaller brown box with flossing things, a small Roswell decorated flashlight, and a fidgeter, plus a finger nail clipper. The necessities of a kid.

I was outside one minute giving the dogs some water when I saw a man who was bald and had a black lab, and had a ski hat on. I said hello, as he asked if my dad was my grandpa. I shook my head and chuckled, saying, "No, he's my dad." "Oh," he said, "yeah I'm sorry, I understand. You know I had an older Dad, and I noticed since he was a little older, he couldn't play football and stuff. It gave me a higher respect for older people." I was nodding and looking as if I was interested. "You know, I actually worked for your Dad a while back, and painted this fence," he said, examining the white peeling off. "When are you guys leaving?" he asked, in a kind of suspicious way. I told him Tuesday, and coming back in June. I said that because I thought he was one of Dad's friends. But I didn't tell him anymore. He had a kind of weird air about him. "Hey, can I ask you something?" he asked me. "I was gonna ask your Dad if I could come along the weekend and, uh, paint the fence. Can you put down my phone number?" I asked if he had a pencil, or paper. Neither. So I jogged on inside, and he said behind me, in an odd way, "TAKE YOUR TIME, DON'T WORRY." 


When I asked for some from Mom, she asked me why I needed them. When I explained she said not to tell strangers that info, but to go back outside and get his number. "I thought he was a friend of Dad's." I said, a little uneasy now. Had I released the information that he would use, and rob things from our house? I hoped not. I went back outside, as I put in the number. I had handed it to him, but he asked if I could do it. Can he not write? Well, he was holding a dog. He said his name was James C., and if we called and somebody named Sam answered, it was because his phone was broke and he was using Sam's office one. Sam was his boss. Then he told me about a joke about a skunk and a phone, about it having a smell phone (get it, smell phone, cell phone). Then one that didn't make sense about a blind guy. I said I had homework to do, and then went through the wooden door to the driveway and behind the R.V. I then peeked behind the R.V., looking at him. C. paused, and then walked backwards and then turned around, down the sidewalk, to the left. He looked at some rosebuds by the road, and then I didn't see him anymore. It was so creepy. I told all this to Dad. We were on one of the properties Dad rents out, and a fence separated us.

"He worked for me 21 years back. And he's crazy. The asylum people thought he was no threat to the public, so they let him have his own house. They just check on him sometimes." He also said he didn't want the number, as we made our way inside. Mom told me not to do it again, to be careful with information. Dad said James was no friend of his. But anyway, the tension blew over. I will never forget that strange man. I was scared he was declared crazy, and thought about the mental people who blew stuff up. I'm sorry I did give him the info. Honest mistake. Why was he looking at our rosebuds? Telling peculiar jokes? Offering to paint our fence? Walking backwards? Couldn't write? Nobody knows, at least I don't. I won't forget that guy, anytime soon.

Mom and Dad were up in their bedroom, reading and watching T.V. Rebecca was in the same latter condition. Mom was "getting dry." Julie and I got all my shoes, tools, like magnifying glasses, flashlights, binoculars, and other things, all in a cabinet I had used as socks earlier, and another one that was soley dedicated to the dog's stuff. This leg, I had more room for my stuff, but less space for socks and underwear. Most of the latter were in a bag, from Christmas. I shared a plastic box of underwear and socks, and one of shorts. Julie stayed in the R.V., and helped out. Then came noon. About noon, anyway. And with about noon came The Andy Clan, save Andy. We were in the R.V. when they came up in THEIR suburban. They got out and we got out of the R.V., welcoming them. Mom came out and showed them the progress of the R.V., and we took some pictures as we talked a little. Will had a football he was playing with, and we stayed in while, while Will talked about lunch, and going into my room, away from the R.V. We were all a little eerie for a little, this was the last time we would see each other. Talking about the trip and stuff. Recounting our blessings. Trying to talk casually.

We weren't too sad though. We knew that the trip would be a lot of fun, but we still were going to miss everybody, my friends, and the cousins. Lineville's charm and adventure, my grandparent's stories and love, all my school friends comedy and drama happenings, my friends at Sunday School's thought provoking times and times we would run and need to go to the restroom, and all the cousin's fun, would all be missed. And my sister's Julie's book recommendations, love, and good lessons I've learned from her. Not to mention Lauren's style, fun, and numerous talks of haircutting, plus her dog Sookie. All of these things would be dearly missed. Nothing replaces real time with a person, face to face, talking to them in real life, not Face-Time, Video chat, texting, or phone. But it does help. And it has helped. But right then and there, we went inside, into the basement, as Mom and Lia went in the kitchen to make our sandwiches. We fished in our orders and then went downstairs. We talked and talked about what we should play, in the room with the play stuff, arguing about what we wanted to play. Character games, and regular ones, were all in the hat. We voted on some, when Mom and Lia told us the food was ready, and came down with the sandwiches.

We were given our various different ones, as I got some water bottles from the garage fridge. In the play area, Rebecca, May, and Will sat on the brown couch, while May and I sat around the table. We ate chips, and the girls and boy putting their sprite and milk on the table, and taking them when they wanted to drink. It was good to eat, with the pickles and sandwich. May tried to get my pickle. It was a time of trial and error, trying to decide what we wanted to play. Mom and Aunt Leah were sitting in the blue leather spinning chairs, sofas really, talking about different adult ladies talk about. Done with our lunch, we decided to go outside and play that sardines game again. Making our way upstairs, I was chosen to be it, and made a clue for them to find out my hiding place. It was, "an English word that rhymes with the word you just ended the last sentence with" which was clue. It was hard to find out, but eventually after they counted and thought about it, they saw that the last word was clue. English word..., Rebecca thought about it, knowing that in England they call bathrooms a loo. Harriet had told me, and someone from England in iCarly said the word. It had to be outside, so Rebecca found out I was in the blue colored wall outside bathroom, with the tiny toilet. I was playing a game on my phone, called Word Jewels, content on the "loo." It was Rebecca that heard me peeing. I had locked the door, so for a while they struggled to get in. I then when done made the lock unopened.

Rebecca and May came in, laughing over my choice of hiding spots. I said I wanted to be recluse and comfortable. The bad part about being in there was that May needed to poo. She was uneasy about the fact we were in there, and told us to look at the sink and not peek. Being the honorable guy I am, I didn't look. But we heard Will and Libby, and even though it was locked, they were pounding on the doors saying it wasn't nice to do that.Well, Rebecca actually unlocked the door, as to be nice. Well, now Will and Libby could see May naked! Gross! Will and Libby were together, and Will ran to it first, but May went out with her pants and underwear at her heels. I didn't look though. May was so mad at Rebecca, it wasn't even countable how much she was irritated. But anyway, Libby was it, and so I was teamed up with Will (an 8 year old can't be alone!) and May and Rebecca were together. Will and I counted in my bedroom, on the second floor, while they counted in the kitchen, on the first floor. We were to go the back way, and them the front way. When we were done counting, Will and I went the back way. I had a deduction, that Libby is a little bit of a prissy girl, and that she probably chose somewhere comfortable. But she's also small and smart, and so she probably picked somewhere good. Under a staircase, under the second floor deck by the door to the basement, and even the bathroom again, were all checked. The forest and stuff wasn't even done. No wasting time there. She's not an overwhelmingly outdoors person.

Then in the driveway, I saw the R.V. The perfect mix of comfort and style, also the numerous hiding spots, the bathroom, closet, and doors all around. It would take a while for someone to find the other one. So we opened the door, and looked around in the front part, with the couches and table. I told Will this was the perfect place. Then the restroom. The bed. The closet. No Libby. So we excited, and looked along the cars, and by the trashcans. I was puzzled. Rebecca had said no more clues were to be done, a sneaky move of hers, because she said it gave it away to easily. Say no more to it when you know you know all of the hiding spots around the house, so others would possibly win it with the clues, if they followed you. It's an interesting and complex psychology. Now in the front yard, Will and I searched. I secretly tried to stay a step ahead of him, to be the one to look at the hiding spots, so that I could be the one to get there first. Because I knew the girls had already found Libby. It was secretive, Will didn't even notice it. I didn't want to be it again, naturally, I had just been it. Then I saw the tree house. I jogged and ran to get to it, seeing the hands and faces on the second floor. Will followed, and the girls yelled for him to beat me. Wow, somebody's picking favorites.

I went up the ladder at the fastest speed, and hit the deck before Will was even under the trees' foliage. They told him that he was it. So we all counted in the tree house, and stood against the railing. My eyes closed, I worried that the rail would break and I would fall back. We counted to a hundred, as his legs were not as fast as ours and because he was younger. I was on a team with May. Those two ran down, and I was content with beating them. Then something clicked. I remembered the words I had uttered to Will in the R.V. This is really one of the best hiding spots in the whole house. Comfort, recluse, and it's not REALLY inside, but at the same time it is. Haha! I ran as fast as I could go, May trying to keep up behind me. I wasn't worried about her. I was trying to get to the R.V. before Libby and Rebecca did. I opened the door, and shut it. I saw Will on the couch. He giggled as I told him how I had found it out. I told him to get down, I saw the girls. We made our way down to the bedroom, and hid down. The girls were at the top of the stairs waiting, waiting for me to come out and say no one was in there. Then May went in. "Retreat to the closet" I told Will as we filed in, shrinking ourselves in the small empty space. The door was opened as I heard May and Libby coming back. Our breath was reduced to a slow steady breeze.

May looked in the closet, and saw us. Libby opened it up. Rebecca was next to run on over. So Rebecca was it. I said sorry to May for abandoning her, and May told me about how she was suspicious that I wasn't coming out. So Rebecca was it. In her usual bossy matter, Rebecca went about saying no more could we use the R.V., it was inside and unfair. But we could do it to count. And we did. When done counting, we all went outside. On the way out, Will got off the stairs, and bumped his head against the corner of a slide out. It hurt him on the forehead, and he started crying. I told May and Libby that we were going to go inside, and that he was hurt, to get him in the basement, and to give him an ice pack. They went out of earshot, over the back way. "No, I'm fine," Will stated. So we continued on, and looked in all the hiding spots that both the front and back yard had to offer. We couldn't find the girls, and thought they were with Rebecca in some ingenious spot. Finally, we declared that they MUST be inside, we had checked EVERY hiding spot. We went in the basement through the outdoor way, and asked the parents on their chairs where the girls were. They informed us that the girls had come down, looking for us, and had told them that Will was hurt. Will told the parents he didn't feel that bad as we searched the house for them, and went out the back way. They came out of the den onto the second floor deck. Confused cousins were now at rest.

We went back in the basement, and tried to think of a character game to play. Rebecca and the girls played wii, Libby and her wanting to do it. Libby was tired. She looked at what Julie was reading, Catching Fire. She actually asked if it was mine, and I said no, I was on Mockingjay. She blubberly told me a part in the book, a spoiler. ha!  May waited a long time to play Indians, and Will and I went into the play area and pretended to be hobos in a dump, scavenging for food. May joined in on it, having nothing else to do. So she became a hobo and I a police officer, and they hid and we fought a little, funny slapstick. I played Indiana Jones with Will, and then Libby wanted to play to. But Aunt Lia said that they were about to leave, and everyone else wanted to play Indians, so we went in the front yard and played. I became the chief of the tribe, ole' Big Toe. I had a hugely large stick, with a part that was split through the middle at the top. Rebecca was in the tree house, and the other girls collected green leaves to put on the bed. Rebecca was Red Feather, May was Gliding Gazelle (that's a cool name) and Libby was Princess Rosebud. Will and I went after the "pale men" really English explorers. In one part we killed a camp of them, and I threw my spear in one man's chest, and it split it half. A good way to look at it was that I had now two swords, instead of one spear. Lia and Mom were on the front steps, with Lauren and Julie there too.Will liked playing with Sookie. . Julie had been helping out Dad in the bays of the R.V., and Lauren arrived to baby-sit us later. I then captured an English man, and he was a prisoner on a hammock. May was my daughter, and was nice to the pale man, giving him food and water, and other things. When I found out about it, she made me escape. She said she was an Englishwoman once at birth, but her ship to the New World got shipwrecked, and Big Toe found her. It was fun, but the parents called her and I to come. I accidentally hit Rebecca with the stick, and she got mad.

We made our way to the car in the driveway, and hugged and said goodbye. I would miss May's charm and comedy, Will's delightful moments and his youth and football, and even Libby's sarcasm and cheerleading abilities, and being funny and girly. We hugged some more, took some pictures, and had several farewells. Then they drove away in their car. I'll miss you guys a lot. Very much I'll miss you guys. Goodbye... for now.

Lauren was nice to have around, as Mom and Dad got ready for a meal they were going to have with Randy and Leslie Brannon. I was so tired from running around and playing, and, of course, jogging to and fro from the house to the R.V., looking on rooms, as I wouldn't see them in 6 months. Sookie was running around. Lauren asked if we wanted to go to the dog park, on Old Alabama Road. Exhausted as I was, I said sure and took "To Kill" and my phone. Plus a jacket, that one I got for Christmas. I got in her overly trashy charger, and Sookie sat in the front with Lauren. She went straight to sleep... I mean, Sookie did, not Lauren, that would of been bad for the driver to dose off. I was interested to see this famed dog park, as Julie left and we pulled out. We drove on down that road, and parked in a center with fenced fields and tennis courts, and signs all around, ads really. We parked in a small parking lot, and looked at the trails and trees, and the big green astro turf area where all kinds of big dogs played. We walked over, as Lauren put a leash on Sookie. We walked over. "Be careful on where you step. There's dog dodo everywhere," Lauren said. And there was. Big brown and yellow chunks of waste, with gnats and flies zimming and flying around, tasting the stuff as if it was an exquisite food. I stepped in one, not knowingly, and said, "Does anybody smell that?" Then I realized I had smudged a poop on the bottom of my right shoe. I did a moonwalk on the grass and got it off, moving back and forth. I tried to not let that process to be repeated.

By the long big one, was a small contained area, for the lap dogs, the little ones, the purse ones, usually the prissies of the species. Our dogs are among them. Rebecca wanted to go in that one, but we made our way to a small contained area where you unleash the dog and get it ready. Through another fence, we got in to the dog park, with the people sitting on a bench under an awning to our right, and in front of us an arched walkway with little cylinder holes beneath it, with rails. On their was the dog parks name. To the right was some trees and another trail, and at the very back a pavilion with people under it. It was slightly raining, as I focused my vision on the dozens and dozens of dog playing, jumping, fetching, laying in the son, wrestling, cuddling, catching balls, being petted and laying out in the rain, and shaking their tails and washing off the water of their hair. Golden retrievers, mutts, black labs, German shepherds, and border collies. All the movement, racing, fun, running around, the light drizzle coming down! It was paradise for a dog! Well, maybe a bit of dog treats is, but it was close to paradise! And close is great! I gave Lauren my book as I pet some dogs, one golden lab named Tucker, and talked to a family who had a big slobbery dog. It was great. I approached a German shepherd, a dog laying down, by the people under the awning.

I had earlier been afraid of the kind, because one jumped over my neighbor's fence and tried to bite me. Mom eventually rescued me, and I was frozen from fear. It had stayed still as long as I did, but when I moved, it moved. The neighbor was actually the Shelton's grandpa, Jason and Sara's. I have a lot of stories about him. Sadly, he's passed away. Nice guy. But anyway, I had been afraid of the dog, and touched anxiously. His owner, a black haired guy from the northern states, said he was old and that we need not be afraid. "Except if you have a white or pink shirt on," another guy said. I looked down and saw I had a white shirt on. "Just kidding. I like how he looked down at his shirt, classic." he remarked to Lauren. We continued to watch those smart and clever border collies catch the tennis balls thrown at them by a man talking on the bluetooth, with a stick with a hole that threw it out. Sookie played with some of the dogs too. We watched dogs and petted them until we dropped, and then leashed Sookie again as we got out. I had a great time there. We drove away, with Sookie newly energized, in the backseat with us. We drove to a Walmart, where Lauren and Rebecca got out to get new shoes for Rebecca, since the shoes Rebecca got from Lauren she didn't like. Sookie was in the front seat when Rebecca got out, because Lauren didn't want Sookie to get out when the door was opened. She stayed up there as I sat in the car, the doors locked, the newly made sun coming down, the extreme warmness that was soothing. Sookie yelped and squeaked, to no avail. Finally she just laid down and slept. I read. She slept. A good arrangement. It was a dog's life, well, literally, a dog's life.

When they returned with some hot chocolate stuff, we drove home. They were still not back yet. Lauren made hot chocolate as we went in the den and put in the DVD Shrek, about the ogre. They've made too many of those. The first one, a universal parks ride, the second one, Shrek the halls(like Deck the halls), the third one, the fourth one, and the Puss in Boots spinoff, plus action figures and various propaganda. Anyway, I sat on the couch, with pillow and all, napkins beneath my mug, me drinking from a straw. So good! Almost as lupsious as cranberry juice! Almost as delicious, too! We were barely through the part in the area where he pones (beats easily for you old folks) all the knights, and wins, when, Mom and Dad made their way up, and made us change it to football. I had another hot chocolate, and then went to bed, saying goodnight to Lauren. I would see her again the next day. I got in bed, brushed my teeth, turned out the lights, and pondered over that this was the last night I would be sleeping in this very comfortable bed... for a long.... long.... long time. Goodbye for now. Over and out.

"HELLO! I'M JAMES CLARK! AND I'M COMING OUT TO PAINT YOUR FENCE WHEN YOU'RE ASLEEP, READER!" AHHH, EVERYBODY RUN! GO GET YOUR PEELING TOOLS AND PROTECT YOUR ROSEBUDS!,

Andrew.

(P.S. In acknowledgement to the introduction, let me say I wrote the majority of this document on the 25th, Dad's birthday. We were gone most of the day and I wrote a little of a story, instead of the blog. Also I was too tired to finish it. So I finished it today. Just pretend it's the 25th, my Dad's birthday, and that I published it then, okay? Get it, got it, good.)