Tuesday, 14 August 2007

stuck in between

9:13 am - Maybe, just maybe, I can sneak in a few pages of the book I've been reading at stolen moments - the new one from Joshilyn Jackson (well, at least the close-to-new-one) I watch the kids eat cereal and respond with a variety of humms and really? as I struggle not to fall under the book's spell. It's hard - this is a really good book.

10:07 - There is a game of catch going on in the livingroom. Instead of a ball, Cass and the dog are using one of R's beloved baby dolls - and she is shrieking at a frequency normally only used for sonar. This does need an adult referee. (sigh)

10:17 - The dog is....UP ON THE SOFA. This is Defcon One disobedience, and much flapping and stern-ness from me is required. The Brown Evil One caged, I send the kids to do their morning room tidies and dive back into mah book.

11:04 - I think they're dead. Or dismantling the bathtub. Or something. There is silence from above, and this is odd enough to make me put the book down (no, no, don't really wanna!) and go upstairs, where C and R are blissfully making Lego towers and toppling them with toy cars. Wah-hoo!

12:00 - Rosey wants to read my book now. Staring at the pages, she tells me a tale of 'lephants and Haspa, and a girl that lives on the moon, which is so compelling that I don't notice that she's lost my page and waved her peanut-butter sandwich all over it until the end.

12:30 - Naptime. Or as it's come to be called, My Reading Time. This afternoon, I must pay more attention to the kids. Besides, I've only a few pages left. Maybe the park....

(weeping) She died? The little girl DIED?

voice at my door: Mama, why you crying?
me: The book made me sad, honey.
R: Is a bad book?
me: Sometimes book make you sad.
R: Like Babar?
me: (oookay. No elephants died, but...okay.)Like Babar.

R then took the book away, threw it down the stairs (my budding literary critic!) and replaced it in my (stunned and) outstretched hand with The Little Engine That Could.

R: Here's a good book, Mama. No make you cry.

Now I had to read The Little Engine while sneaking glances at Between (Which is damned good, and needs to be read in one unbroken strip)and this is not working and augh!

The Little Engine won out, of course. I had to read the last few (heartrending) pages of my book hiding in the bathroom later.

After I took the kiddles out to the park and the pool.

11 comments:

Unknown said...

That is a damn good book, you should listen to it on CD read by Joshily Jackson, holy cow...with the accents and all! I drove around and around and around when I was near the end, I could not stop driving or listening...oh and crying! Great book, really great book!

angelfeet said...

That's so sweet of Rosey to give you a new book. Kids are so insightful sometimes. And yay for the quiet time!

jAMiE said...

I'm glad you enjoyed the book...and your afternoon with the kids...what are you reading next?

Jess said...

Dawn - Audio! I never would have thought....must check this out!
Jamie - Still floundering through "I Don't Know How She Does It" which is good, and funny, but sloooow going, and "Can't Wait To Get To Heaven" by Fannie Flagg, - agood southern romp.
Angelfeet - Soaking up quiet time like a sponge - because once school starts, it feels like I will have no quiet time at all!

Anonymous said...

Rosey is adorable -- peanut butter, hurling books, all of it.

Anonymous said...

Ok. I had to skip over some of your post because, dude? Where was your spoiler warning?!

Good thing I like you so much, that's all I can say...

Jess said...

Bec - A thousand apologies. READ THE BOOK.

It may NOT be a spoiler.
Mwahahahahaha.

kimmyk said...

R was just lookin' out for her momma.
Bless her heart.
Sounds like you had a good afternoon though with the kiddies.

What's the book called that you were reading?

Jess said...

Kimmy - Between, Georgia, by Joshilyn Jackson.

Stomper Girl said...

Look at your girl Rosey, caring for you like that. What a sweetie.

My float said...

What a darling to try and cheer you up. The Little Engine That Could is a damn fine book!

Whole lot of nothing going on

Last week, I got covid. For the third time, and this one was unpleasant in ways that I don't really want to talk about. (Life tip: NO ...