'Will You Take Care Of This Baby?'

It's a beautiful, cool, crisp morning.  Fall is here, and the transition is just as exciting as it is every year.  I rise at 8:00am, get dressed, and dress Poppy in her new Fall outfit that we bought at Ralph Lauren this weekend.  She is looking lovely in her first Fall outfit.  The car was loaded up last night with my school things as well as with Poppy's little green backpack.  We hit the road at 8:45.  The sun is shining.  We go through the McDonald's drive-through to pick up my two bottles of Dasani water and a medium Diet Dr. Pepper.  As we pull into the church parking lot, I notice that there is only one other car.  That's strange.

I park, pull Poppy out of her car seat, bonk her head a little, apologize to her for bonking her head a little, realize that she didn't even notice the bonk, and then I grab her green backpack.  We approach a locked door.  Everything is dark inside of Claire's Christian Day school.  I linger for a minute, peering into the building.  As we turn to head back to the car, a portly woman appears.


portly woman: 'They're not here today.  It's Fair Day.'

me: 'Fair Day?'

portly woman: 'Yes, they're on the Highland Park school system schedule and today is Fair Day.'

me: 'Oh, I didn't know that public schools had a designated Fair Day.'

portly woman: 'Well in Texas they do.'

me: 'Oh.  Well, then.  Will you take care of this baby for me?'

Poppy, who is still looking cute and well put together, smiles at the portly church administrator woman.

portly woman: 'I've been in your situation before.'



We return to the car in the nearly vacant parking lot where I give Poppy some of her bottle and think for a minute.  It is Columbus Day, but the market is still open ('the market' = the stock market).  Is it politically incorrect these days to call a school holiday Columbus Day?  Columbus seems like a fairly benign historical character.

I guess this means I'm not going to class today.