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2/15/1999 Kisses were Dollars9:45 a.m. Daniel is still at Stephanie's today. His school is closed today for President's Day, but the university is not closed, of course, so Tab is working. It is a relief not to have Daniel here with the twins. Daniel by himself is fun to be with; the twins by themselves are not hard at all to manage; but the three of them together can be a horror show. Daniel and Stephen, in particular, are always mixing it up. Stephen tries to do whatever Daniel does, which annoys Daniel. And Daniel seems to delight in teasing Stephen. I watched the first part of the Stephen King miniseries, "Storm of the Century," last night. It's probably the first time I've watched a dramatization of a Stephen King work of which I didn't know the plot. I confess: I'm a Stephen King fan. My enjoyment of his books is due in part to my being from Maine. There are a lot of Maine in-jokes in his books, which those "from away" don't get. The miniseries took awhile to get going, and there are far too many commercials. Kudos to the casting person who managed to populate Little Tall Island with people who look like ordinary folks, not like beautiful Hollywood actors. Ciss to the dialect coach, who couldn't teach a Maine accent if his or her life depended on it. Almost every attempt at the Maine accent failed miserably. I think it must be one of the hardest accents to pick up. Anyone can drop their Rs and say "ayuh," but there are a lot of strange vowel shifts that no one except a real Mainer, or someone who has lived among them for years, can replicate. The only actor who managed to speak with a nearly authentic Maine accent in the miniseries was Jeffrey DeMunn, who plays the town manager. So if you want to know what a real Mainer sounds like, pay attention to this guy. 2:15 p.m. I worked a little on the Peretti pages in the morning while Stephen and Matthew played with their Duplos and watched PBS. At 11:00 we went for a walk. The sky was an amazing shade of crystal blue. There was not a single cloud to be seen from horizon to horizon. It is warmer today than yesterday, about mid-40s, I'd guess. It felt fine when we walked in the sun; unfortunately half our walk is in shade. Stephen found a penny by Miss Jean's house. He was inordinately proud of his find, until Matthew trumped him by finding a dime further down the street. "Matthew, will you share?" Stephen pleaded. Stephen's definition of "sharing" is that he gives Matthew the penny and Matthew gives him the dime. "No," answered Matthew. "Mama, Matthew won't share with me!" whined Stephen. I told him Matthew didn't have to trade with him and reminded him that he didn't offer Matthew the penny until Matthew found the dime. That logic was lost on Stephen who continued to fuss about it until I snapped at him to cut it out, at which point Stephen put on his sad, sad, broken-hearted little boy face. And then Matthew gave him the dime in exchange for the penny, and the smile on Stephen's face was like the sun emerging after a rainstorm. "Matthew shared with me, Mama!" 8:05 p.m. If kisses were dollars I'd be a rich woman tonight. Both the boys were in a very affectionate mood this evening and bestowed countless moist kisses on me. Since their kisses, while priceless to me, are not dollars, and since I want to get paid this week, I'm going to need to stay up late tonight to finish Peretti.
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