Chapter 11
Summer vacation
Lanie was awake at her usual time that first weekend after school had ended. Mom and Dad usually had some kind of activity planned for weekends, but with school out there was no rush to plan.
Mom suggested Lanie take Booboo outside to play in the backyard. And she hinted that Dad might cook on the outside grill for supper.
"Oh boy!" Lanie like food cooked on the grill.
She got some of Bucky's clothes and passed them to him so he could get dressed. Since he had very few items, he usually went around in just the diaper.
It didn't actually look too bad on him; it was just padded and therefore bulky.
Once dressed, he raised his arms for Lanie to pick him up. It had become habit. He just did it. He never really thought about why he just did it. He just expected it.
Lanie picked him up and they went outside.
Dad had just installed a new swing set and Lanie was eager to try it out.
On the one end, there was a slide…climb up the ladder, slide down the chute. In the middle there was a two seat glider that swung lazily to and fro. On the far end were two swings held up to the overhead crossbar by thick chains.
"Let's try the slide Booboo!"
She climbed up a couple of steps and stood him up at the top of the slide. "Wait until I get to the bottom and then you slide down. I'll catch you."
She quickly backed down the steps and took up position at the bottom of the slide, her hands braced to catch him.
"Come on Booboo, sit down and slide off the top."
Bucky looked down. It was a long way down! He swallowed nervously. "How bad could it be?" He muttered to himself as he sat down and edged himself forward. "I've ridden the Cyclone at Coney Island." He chided himself. "This is just the down part."
He inched his way until gravity took control and down he went. He fell back against the smooth metal and went down on his rump and back. Forgetting to tuck his arms in, he began to flail. There was nothing to grab or slow his rapid descent. For one brief moment his stomach lurched in zero gravity.
He caught his breath the moment he slid right into Lanie's waiting hands. "Yay, Booboo. You did it! Wasn't that fun?"
Bucky gave her a double raised eyebrow. FUN? He still had his reservations about it even as she raced around, climbed back up the ladder and set him down at the top again.
She jumped down the two stairs and re-positioned herself at the bottom of the slide. "Come on, Booboo; you can do it!"
Bucky shook his head, but settled himself down and inched forward once more and down he went.
"WEEEEEEEE!" Lanie cried. "You did it! You did it!"
She climbed all the way up and sat down. "We'll go together this time." She set Bucky down on her lap and pushed herself over the brink and slid down.
Bucky felt a little better this time as they went down the slide together.
When Lanie got tired of that, she tried out the glider.
When she sat, the glider tipped according to its' new center of gravity. She put Bucky down on the other seat. It was a precarious perch, tilted as he was. So, he grabbed the arm rest he was closest to and held on. He sat straddling the bent metal and wrapped his arms around the circumference of it.
Lanie leaned back and forth and the glider began to swing gently.
Bucky's bare feet hung free; one on the inside off the seat proper, and the other just outside the glider itself.
When the swing tilted and he swung back, he rested his chest on the bar. When he swung forward, he tightened his grip so he didn't fall off.
It's actually kind of nice. He thought.
Soon though, Lanie had her fill and she stopped the glider. She carefully picked Bucky up and got off. She put him down on the metal seat of one of the two swings. He grabbed onto the chain and settled himself down on the seat. Lanie pulled the swing towards her a little and let go.
She sat herself on the other swing and idly watched him. When the swing slowed, he carefully stood up and examined the chain. "I bet I could climb this…" He muttered to himself.
Basic training at the army camp kicked in and he raised one foot to the center of the lowest link and began climbing. Lanie sat there amazed at his climbing attempt; even more so when he reached the bar at the top.
He looked down at Lanie and felt his stomach expressing its' unhappiness at the height, but he was out of practice. Even with his push-ups routine, his limbs felt rubbery from the climb. "Boy, you're out of shape Barnes!" He exclaimed to himself.
"Booboo, that's giving me an idea!" Lanie cried; jumping up and clapping her hands with glee.
Oh boy! Me and my big mouth!
He rested a bit more before he attempted his descent.
Lanie spared him from re-tracing his way all the way back down, and plucked him off the chain.
As she carried him inside, Bucky felt a tad nauseous and wondered what she had thought up.
"What are you doing back inside? It's gorgeous out. You should be playing."
Lanie looked up at her mother sheepishly. "I know, but I have an idea for Booboo. Do you want to help me?"
Her mom opened her mouth to say she was very busy, but the hopeful look on Lanie's face changed her mind. "What did you have in mind?"
"I want to make a playground for Booboo. We can use cardboard, and all kinds of things to make stuff."
"Cardboard may not hold his weight, sweetie."
"Oh…" Lanie's enthusiasm waned.
"Why don't we take a look on the computer and see what we can find?"
"Ok!" Lanie brightened up.
Bucky stood and stared at the laptop computer that mom brought out and sat on the dining room table. He had never seen such a thing in his life! He hadn't even dreamt such a thing were possible.
Mom typed on the keyboard and the words showed up in the box up there on the screen. When mom hit the enter key a list of things came up. As she explored each one of interest, she shook her head. "Not what we're looking for."
She tried different words, and finally came up with an obstacle course.
Lanie jumped up and down. "We could make that!"
"I'll bookmark it so we can come back to it later. All we need is a hot glue gun, cardboard, a bunch of sticks, and some string to start with."
She typed in again, and found Popsicle stick projects. "We can make these too. We may need to buy some special cutters to help us cut up the stuff."
"Maybe daddy has something we can use?"
"We'll ask him."
Dad came to the rescue with a small saw, a box cutter, heavy duty scissors and some cardboard. Then mom got out her glue gun, craft scissors and twine.
"Why don't we cart all this outside, spread out a blanket and work in the shade of the big tree out back?"
"Ok!"
Mom spread out an old blanket and they put all their supplies on it. Dad ran a long extension cord so mom could plug in her glue gun. Lanie sat Bucky down and together they started building Bucky an obstacle course.
Even dad got involved when he finished his puttering around. He used a measuring tape to measure Bucky so they would know what size to build everything to accommodate Bucky's frame. They worked for over an hour on it.
"I'm going to start up the grill." Dad said, and left the girls to finish.
Mom made sure everything was heavily glued down to the cardboard base so that it would support Bucky's weight while he climbed over things. She made sure none of the crawling under stuff would tip over and hit Bucky in the head.
They built it in sections, and were finishing up one section when they were called to eat.
They had a picnic under the tree and enjoyed their family meal together. Dad nodded his approval at the results so far.
"I can't wait for Booboo to try the whole thing out daddy."
"Have you tested each section?"
"Oh yes! Mama made sure it would hold his weight."
"My question is…where are we going to store it when not in use?"
Dad chewed thoughtfully. "Well, I could always get some scrap lumber, sand it down, and put up some shelves in Lanie's room. That way it would be handy but up off the floor."
Lanie handed Bucky another piece of her hamburger. "Oh, I like that."
Bucky munched away on the food.
"Daddy, can we get one of those little plastic baby pools?"
"Why? We already have one." He nodded towards the three foot tall pool.
"I want to fill it with water and put it at the bottom of the slide, so when Booboo slides down, he can go into the pool. Ours is too deep for him."
"Well, I suppose. They are pretty cheap."
"Mama, can you make a bathing suit for Booboo?"
She automatically turned her head to size Bucky up.
Bucky stopped chewing as he returned her gaze.
"I'll see what fabrics I have, but I think something stretchy would work best."
Lanie grinned from ear to ear. "This is going to be the best summer ever!"
