Around 7:20 a.m. Monday
morning Dean told me I needed to “call John (my head bee) and find out what’s
going on. We sat around all day Friday
waiting for somebody to show up and then they didn’t. We need to go to the gym today.” He reminded me again at 7:58 a.m. but I
didn’t want to seem too anxious so I ignored him and waited until 8:10 a.m.
before I called, even though I knew we would need to leave for the gym around
8:40. I had to leave a
voicemail but I wasn’t too concerned because I willing to give up Pilates class and
let Dean go alone if I needed to wait for a return call.
As I found out later, his anxiety about
talking to John had nothing to do with missing Pilates himself. It was because he didn’t want to go to Pilates alone
“with all those women.” (Apparently he’s
so traumatized by just trying to get through the moves that he hasn’t yet realized there are
normally at least three other old geezers groaning right along with him.) As it turned out he didn’t need to worry
because my head bee and the drywall guy came at 8:25 which gave us plenty of time to discuss taping
and texturing, get to the gym on time, and save Dean from facing –
all alone – a room filled with crepe-paper skin, sagging boobs, and loose skin flapping off of upper arms.
Head bee had told me my worker bees would be here “after lunch” to hang the last door. Time, I’m slowly learning, means different
things to different people. To me “after
lunch” meant 1:05 p.m.. Since I needed
to get over to Leslie and Ryan’s to make Emerson (home sick from school) some
lunch, I only had about an hour after I got home from the gym to make my
construction cookie. My intended banana
bread took too long. Brownies are
fast. Had I made those? I’d made so much stuff over the last weeks I
couldn’t even remember, but when I looked back at blog posts, there they
were. What else? What else? What else is
fast? A quick Google and Monday’s construction
“cookie” was … drum roll please … Chocolate Chip Blondies. Mixed up, baked, cooled (just barely) enough
to put on a plate and hand over to my bees in less than an hour.
Where they sat until about 2:30 when they
actually showed up. And hung the final
door.
So as it turns out I could have
baked the banana bread I had planned to bake after all. But I didn’t mind too much because I figured
I would just bake it yesterday for drywall bee.
However, yesterday
morning Leslie called saying Emerson was feeling worse and asked if I
could come over for the day so she could conserve her insufficient personal
days in case the bug going around school infected her too. I was happy to go, but what to do about
drywall bee? He was supposed to be
coming first thing to begin creating the dust bowl in my house. I didn’t have time to bake. I couldn’t
give him day-old Blondies – could I? I
did. Just as I was ready to leave, drywall bee arrived and I apologetically handed off a plate of shriveled
up day-old Blondies to him as I headed out with chicken
soup, soda crackers, GingerAle and Twix (you’re never too sick to eat a treat).
About
mid-afternoon the caustic smell drove Dean and Angus out of our house and over
to the sick house. If you know anything
at all about Dean, you understand how horrible the smell must have been for him to risk contagion. Dean’s the guy who opens every door with his
sleeve pulled down over his hand – every time. He uses the wipes at the
grocery store to clean the cart handle – every time. He sleeps in another room
when I’m sick – every time (and would probably sleep in another house if he had
the option). He waves at sick grandchildren from afar but will not touch them. I’m the total opposite. I open every door with my bare hands – every time. And sometimes I even touch my eyes right afterwards! I have never, ever used the wipes at the
grocery store. The only thing that
drives me to another room to sleep is snoring. Not only that, I touch and hug sick grandchildren. And guess who gets sick more
often? Just guess.
Anyway……………….when
we got home yesterday afternoon I braced myself for the nasty
headache-producing smell but when we walked in the door it wasn’t half
bad. We opened a few windows for about
half an hour and the remaining bit of odor disappeared. My bee had already left but he’d gotten a boatload of
taping done. That drywall bee is
fast! Ho * ly cow. This guy is suuuuuper
drywaller.
A while later Leslie
called to say Emerson was feeling much worse again and Myra had a headache and
fever so I was pretty sure I’d be loading up with more Ginger Ale, soup and
crackers and heading over bright and early this morning. That meant I would have no time to bake for
my bee before I left unless I got up suuuuuper early. I love my bees but I love sleep more. So I mixed up a batch of chocolate chip
cookies last night. I almost baked them
too, but then they would be half a day old and anyway, there’s nothing better
than a warm chocolate chip cookie.
This morning I was ready
for the call from Leslie asking me to come soon but she surprised me by saying Emerson had recovered enough to go to school. Myra, however, stayed home but she's feeling good enough that she’s happy for me to just stop by and give her
chicken soup, crackers, Ginger Ale, her own special treat, and, of course a plate of chocolate chip cookies. When my worker bee showed up bright and early
this morning I was able to be here to hand him a plate of today's just-baked construction cookie.
Soon I will be heading over to warm up some soup and pour some Ginger Ale for Myra. It should be late enough I'll miss the morning rush.
 |
| I know. We need a new windshield. |
And tomorrow, those
bananas will just be that much sweeter when I bake the bread....maybe...we'll see...
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1 comment:
The germaphobe your call Dean, is the same man who walks through the Wyoming prairie and hills and mountains, licking rocks that who knows what kind of wild beast has peed on? I heard a piece on NPR the other day that says we raise our kids in too much of a germ-free environment, so they don't grow up resistant to germs and they get sick more. But I think they also said that chocolate-chip cookies and banana bread will help cure that. BTW, how many pounds did your worker bees put on?
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