The Ocarina of Gabe

Today was one of those days with so many errands to run, it was unbelievable. After our schoolwork, chores and lunch, we set out, at about 2 pm. Between 2 pm and 5 pm, we went to Groth Music so Gabe could buy an ocarina, the bank to deposit money to fund our expedition, Great Clips for Gabe's haircut, Caribou to refresh ourselves, the library so Stella didn't go mad without anything to read, Sam's Club for chicken for soup tomorrow, the gas station, Chuck and Don's for a few cans of Tiki Cat for Master Orange Pants, and Papa Murphy's, because by that time I wasn't about to go home and start cooking. Nine stops in three hours, in three different cities, essentially. It went so smoothly, though. Obviously, as we already know, the hype about Friday the 13th is a joke.

The highlight, for Gabe, was the purchase of the ocarina. He loves to watch me play the "Zelda" Nintendo games, and has played just a bit himself, and he really fancies himself a Link-type hero. In recent weeks, we have made a sheath for his dagger, a bow that shoots Tinker Toys and a quiver for said Tinker Toys (both the sheath and the quiver strap to his body with one of my patent-pending knotted string affairs). He already had (before the Link thing) a wealth of manly weapons to go a-slaying, and the final thing he needed to really feel like Link was the ocarina. It was $3.95, which was a sizable chunk of the $7.00 he's saved, but he was thrilled with it. It's a really nice, solid little thing, and it's a real instrument, rather than a toy, which is nice. He's a very music-oriented guy, which I think he gets from Jim, because I used to think I liked music until I had kids, and now I like quiet. Anyway, he puffed around on it all afternoon, and regaled us with various tunes, including "Happy Birthday", "He Shall Feed His Flock Like a Shepherd", and "Hungry Like the Wolf" (yes, the Duran Duran song. I don't know where that came from). At bedtime, he played a lullaby, which he requested that I sing along to, and that was nice. I think he'll really enjoy his purchase, especially as it's starting to warm up and he'll be able to go outside with his gear and dash around in the trees and sneak up and villains, etc, and he has to have an ocarina to do all of that properly. However, in the interest of self-preservation, I will be placing the ocarina in a secret spot tonight before I go to bed, and I will reveal it's location tomorrow morning after I've had a cup of coffee.