Heading Home, Alas

 

The Girls

Beth and I are up at 6:15 because Beth has an Uber at 7:30. I will wake Evie at 6:45, and we hope to be on our way by 8:00. It looks like safe driving, no snow today as we hope to get beyond Indianapolis before finding a Hampton Inn.

Yesterday was a beautiful, sunny Kansas City day, with temperatures reaching the mid-50s. Unfortunately, Beth and I were too lazy to take advantage of it. Instead, we spent most of the morning sitting around with a light breakfast, listening to obnoxious football pundits—or scrolling on our phones. Around 10:30, I left to get gas and a car wash at a station five minutes from Tom’s house. We also needed a few things for dinner, so Beth, Evie, and I decided to join Tommy on a short road trip to their Hyvee.

When we went out to get into Tom’s Tesla, we discovered that the front tire was flat. Luckily, he remembered that he had given Marlena a combination battery charger and tire inflator, so it took only about five minutes to get enough air in the tire. I followed him to Big O Tires, but the key to his Tesla was on his phone. We made a quick run through Hyvee, stopping at Starbucks for a couple of matcha drinks.

Happy, Happy

We were home by 12:45, and Tom had to return to Big O Tires to give them the key to his Tesla. When he got back, Evie went outside to clean our car windows, and Tom took the brisket out of the smoker, wrapped it in a towel, and placed it in a cooler until dinner. Tired of watching football games that meant nothing to us, we decided to watch a film Beth and I had already seen—A House of Dynamite. Even the second time around, it was frighteningly realistic. In short, it’s a film about the insanity of stockpiling nuclear weapons.

Mary Prepping

Around 4:15, Mary took Tom to pick up his car. I showered, and then Evie and I packed our car to make things easier for the morning. When Tom and Mary returned, Tom brought out the shrimp and cocktail sauce, and the rest of us poured wine, toasting the past five days spent together as a family.

Brisket Boys

At 6:30, Tom unwrapped the brisket, cutting the point into burnt ends and the flat into slices. Evie buttered the baked potatoes, Mary prepared the rolls and coleslaw, Beth poured the wine, and we sat down to a feast—laughing and talking about the fun we’d had over the past four days with the boys.

After shrimp, wine, and dinner, we were all a bit logy. We gathered around the TV and watched the Buckeyes get destroyed in the first half by Miami.