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A MAGICAL DAY

One Saturday Daddy took off working
both day and night
and came into our bedroom
clapping his hands
saying
"Get up all you lazybones!
We are going on a picnic!"

Me and the boys scrambled
into our clothes into the bathroom
and out and ready
in 10 minutes flat!

Even so, Daddy had already loaded up the car
with picnic stuff in a cooler
and he was sitting inside with his hands on the wheel
laughing at all of us running out of the house
because we didn't want Daddy
to leave without us!

On the way we stopped at a church lady's house
to drop off the baby
and Mom relaxed into her seat
and her and Daddy held hands.

* * *
Daddy found a nice spot
with a little bit of shade
and Mom got out the tablecloth

and Daddy pointed out a Gila Monster
napping on a rock.
He told us they were lizards.
It was so beautiful!

Me and the boys went exploring
and found a paw
baking in the desert sun
that we thought might be from a mountain lion
or a coyote
or even a panther
because the foot was so big.

It had turned completely green!

It was a magical day.

The sun sent down sprinkles of light
instead of heat.
The dry dusty ground melted like sand between my toes
we could see water mirages if we squinted our eyes
and the whole world looked sparkly.

I went to where Daddy was cooking weiners
and kissed his cheek
just to thank him.
He left off cooking for a minute

"What a day! What a day!"
he said.

I knew he was happy, too.

On the way home we stopped to look at some old pueblos.
Daddy said they might have belonged to Navajo Indians
who lived with no heat or running water.

We climbed a rickety ladder
and went inside
and it was clean and the sun was shining in the little window
and I thought I would rather live here
than near the meat packing plant.

* * *
Daddy and Mom were having fun.
He was pretending he couldn't catch her
as she ran around the little dirt rooms
and she laughed.

She laughed all day long at every little thing.

On the way home we stopped and picked up the baby
and when we got back to our house
we didn't bother to notice how sour it smelled
how ugly it was
the roaches
and spiders
and flies

because we were all happy from the day.

Mom and Daddy and Tippie and the baby
slept in one room
and me and Jimmy and Wes
slept in the other

and Jimmy hollered
"What do you think that green paw was off of, Daddy?"
and Daddy hollered back
"Settle down and go to sleep!"
and we did.

................................................................................

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