The Scorekeeper

...day by day and days gone by!

SLEEPING DUTY!

Philip is a master strategist! For example, when his pop inventory gets below 12, he goes into action. His limit is 2 per day, which should give him a 6 day comfort level. Not so, oh unlearn-ed one! At best, he'll argue, there's maybe 3 days supply. Factoring in mom and dad absconding with 2 each, cousin David popping in and grabbing 1...and he himself taking an 'extra' along to the gym...well...he's living on the edge now! So, he wisely deduces...only 12 left?...time to replenish! And thus the negotiations begin...and by day's end...the fridge is bulging once again! He applies these very same tactics when his pencil and notebook caches begin to deplete (deplete meaning below 60, in the case of his pencils...right now he has 56...things are getting pretty tense around here!).

This is his strategy regarding Johnny's coming for Christmas. His brother arrives in 29 days...that's 696 hours...far too long a wait for the Scorekeeper! So he figures if he sleeps at least 16 hours a day 'til December 23...that's almost 20 days out of the way...leaving just 9 to deal with. Yesterday he got up at 9 a.m., ate breakfast, and went right back to sleep...slept soundly 'til 5 p.m., ate supper, and was gone by 6:15 with David to play basketball. Home by 8...grabbed a hearty snack...and 3 movies later...he was fast asleep! Insane, you say?...uhuhuh...strategy!

Here he is waiting for David to pick him up for basketball. "Got my gym shorts...got my runners...got my binder...got my pencil...I'm good to go!"

Ah, but there's more number crunching at work in that clever little brain of his. "If I watch 3 movies a day (@ 120 minutes) 'til he arrives...that means another 7 days gone! Holy crap dad, he'll be here before you know it!". He's right, you know! And you can rest assured he's counting, and recording, every darn minute!

He sees it as his obligation...his 'duty'...to sleep irrelevant time away!

Whenever Aunt Sherry calls to tell us that she and Tio will be over in a few hours, he immediately crawls into bed...leaving strict instructions that she...and only she...is to wake him! Then he falls fast asleep. When they arrive, she cracks open his door...softly calls his name...AND HE'S UP LIKE A FLASH! He's mastered the art of sleeping away unnecessary 'down time'...eat your heart out Rip Van Winkle!

I recently asked Philip what he misses about Newfoundland. He said his buddy Robert, the Ice Breakers, and his rock whale!

Let me explain the 'rock whale'. A few years before we had moved to Newfoundland, Diane and Philip had visited Nanny and Poppa there. Since Ochre Pit Cove was a famous, designated whale watching tourist site, Philip spent a lot of time doing so. One day he excitedly informed his mom and Poppa that he had seen a whale just beyond the wharf.

Right there! Can't you see it?

They searched the ocean where Philip was pointing and all they could see was a large rock sticking out of the water (Philip's 'whale' is the little dot to the left of the larger rock just beyond the breaker wall). The waves, casually crashing against the oceanic protrusion, created a movement-like image that would have even fooled Captain Jack Sparrow! This image, to Philip, was a whale...he was very clear about that! When the tide came in, it was gone...when the tide went out, there he was! (inanimate objects don't come and go, you know!). Clever Poppa sided with Philip and declared it Philip's very own 'rock whale'.It was all good!

For whom but Philip would God put in 'rainbow parenthesis' the location of his rock whale?

Back in Ontario all we heard about was Philip's magnificent discovery! Two years later we moved to Ochre Pit Cove. We arrived late at night. The next morning we awoke to a clear blue sky...a slight cool breeze brushing through the trees...the beckoning sounds of the Atlantic splashing softly against the rock-strewn shore...and Philip yelling from the back deck..."there's my rock whale...there's my rock whale...I knew he'd be here!". And sure enough...there he was...right where Philip had left him!

For 2 years we lived in the presence of that 'tide dependent' rock whale...and for 2 years Philip never ceased to be amazed that his 'friend' was always there...spring...summer...fall...and winter! Neighbourhood cats and dogs came and went...Nanny and Poppa came and went...the cows and pigs at Rod and Gertrude's came and went...but not his 'rock whale'! Ahoy there mate...steady she blows! No wonder he misses it!