Speaking to Tonas: “Did you get acknowledged as papa yesterday?”

“Yes, I did indeed, and I must say it never gets old. There was a cake that was as big as a scraper of the sky. There were many gifts the children made by hand. I do not think I will need socks ever again. I love the fact that they all learned how to make knittings and made them themselves. We had many different programs. I am Father of the Year. Next was Liponie and one after the other we were all father of the year.

“There was an interesting fountain. It seemed to be sludgy and tasted of strawberry but we all wondered what fruit the children used because of the bright pink color. The children just smiled and giggled. Kennedy said it was Pepto Bismol but I do not believe it. That was the color though. It tasted a bit like raspberry, perhaps some strawberries and maybe some currant. There were chunky things in it—we think they were golden raisins.”

“You have 94 pairs of socks now?”

“They each made one sock. I will never forget them. Indeed, I have told each of the children that this year we are going to save them and use them for Christmas stockings. They loved the idea of it and Charlie said it would save him some big work. (I told Tonas that it was all right to wear two mismatched socks. People would just think he was eccentric.)

“Now they have been circusing and circusing and circusing until there is nothing left for them to do. They have ridden on the backs of the bears. They have ridden on the backs of the horses. (Charlie put his Mickey Mouse shoes on a strap that ran around the horse’s middle and slipped his feet into the shoes so that he could stay on.) They rode their bears through rings of pretend fire. This was quite an event.”

“They each rode a bear?”

“Well, Charlie rode a bear and it was so big that many of the children were hanging onto the hair of it. They were all bare.”

“What do you mean?”

“They had no clothing, and they were on the back of a bear with hair. Charlie did have his Mickey shoes. You can’t get those off of him.”

“So, naked bear-back riding.”

“They thought about only having their backs bare but they couldn’t figure it out so they went completely naked.”

“Oh, Tonas.”