A few days ago Gregory made some really extra delicious chocolate chip cookies, just the right kind of cookies to share. I told him he can take some up to our elderly neighbor, and suddenly there was a clamor of others who wanted to go along too. Okay, since Eva has been begging me to let the children come visit, I said the older three can go if they promised to come home right away when Alex, who has a watch, said that their 15 minutes were up. After they had gone on their mission, here came Rita, puffing up the basement steps with her coat and boots, sad to have missed the action. She promised that she would definitely just sit quietly on the couch and visit and obey Alex and all that, so I sent her out the door to join the others. I stayed home with the littlest tot who has been having stomach upsets for a week, not wanting to spread her virus to our elderly friend.
After a bit the children came straggling home, full of enthusiasm from their sharing mission, each clutching a quarter. But wait a minute, where is Rita? They didn’t know. She never came. We speedily cased the backyard and all areas of the house. No Rita. Just as I was feeling a little panicky, we noticed her tracks across the snow to the neighbors two houses over, a family from our church. And there she came, tromping along home.
What were you doing? Why did you go over there instead of to Eva’s house where the other children were? “Well, I just knocked on the door, and Jake answered and I went in to look for Livvy,” she said.
As it turned out, that was a bit of a yarn. When I asked Jake about her visit, he said he got home from work, saw some little pink boots on the porch, and figured his wife was babysitting. Except his wife wasn’t there. When he got into the house, Rita came wandering out of their toyroom, where she had made herself entirely at home. She told him she was looking for Livvy, so he obligingly helped her look. Just when he was ready to call me to see if I was missing a little girl, she decided to put on her coat and run home. She was totally unfazed by her expedition into the wrong house. My doughty little daughter, unruffled by an upset mother, just said, “Well, where does Eva live anyway?”
wocket in my pocket 
Dorcas, your life was not meant to be boring is all I can say….:) I can just imagine the chuckles from jake LOL, even if it may not have left you chuckling!!
I was nursing Dom when your blog came in on my email. I read it, put my phone down and just shook with laughter. Rita is unbelievable. She has the potential to change the world ! 😀 It just kills me how your friend came home and her little pink boots were on the porch. And she came out of the playroom! But wow, that would have scared me too not being able to find her.
This is by far the best thing I have read all day. It truly did make me laugh out loud. You need to keep writing about your children’s escapades. That way, when you’re an old granny waiting for your neighbor children to bring you fresh cookies, you can turn your blog into a book… and retire on the royalties.
PS. To Rhonda Peight- I loved the comment you recently left on my blog and wanted to email you back but couldn’t find your address anywhere. Mine is lindasmailbox at hotmail dot com.
I wish I’d do as good as you in wrting about the escapades of my children! I would love to meet your children, they sound quite interesting!
She took her boots off before entering the house? I’m impressed!