Shining Shoes for the Queen

When I was raising my kids, I liked everything to go right. Now that I am involved with my grandchildren, I have no expectations of my days, nor of their days, going right. If their parents leave me with a charge card and a security code – then everything seems like it will go right ... at least for me. there is not much that can’t be worked out with cash.

Unless of course, one is going to visit the Queen. Duncan announced that ½ of his class was going to Buckingham Palace today – but he would not be in that half. The day would be too long – from 7 am to 9 pm he told me, and he is tired of trips. His idea was just to stay home for the day.

My idea was that he should visit the Queen, so I shined up his black shoes, and asked him what was his heart’s desire for a packed lunch. He wanted Pepsi Max poured into a thermos that he bought at Thorpe Park. While I could see it was not a leak proof container, the canister carries the memories of fun in the amusement park – and I was trying to bring the maximum amount of happiness to a person who did not want to visit the Queen. Accordingly I packed his lunch as he desired.

Then I had to call one of the mom’s in Duncan’s class to confirm the time we had to be at the school. No she said, it would just be normal hours. But Duncan had carried home different information, so I walked him to school in the morning, to confirm for him at the front desk, that he would not be arriving at 9 pm to a darkened walk home, all by himself.

“How was your lunch?”, I asked when I saw him after school.

“You didn’t screw the cap on tight enough. I lost ½ of my pop and I had to eat Pepsi soaked sandwiches,” he said. “I fed the apples to two squirrels,” he continued, “and I saw the Queen on her balcony and the Prime Minister at #10 Downing Street. They both waved to us.”

I can only confirm that the part about the Pepsi Max soaked sandwiches is probably true.

Arta