brother or both from alligators high tides or sandstorms Let me tell you sometimes it’s pretty tough I don’t know why my parents are like that I guess it’s their way of feeling young again and different from other people If it were up to my little brother and me we’d be normal kids with normal parents going on a normal vacation Even getting to where we’re going can be an adventure Like the time we drove to Maine We’ll take the road through the mountains my father said showing us the map It’ll be much more interesting When he says interesting he really means we’ll be driving on bumpy back roads folding and unfolding the map and generally getting lost It’ll be much more beautiful too my mother added Which means we’ll have to stop and look at all the beautiful stuff along the way It’ll take us forever So there we were bumping along the winding mountain roads on our way to Maine Our tiny car was filled to the brim with suitcases books and fishing nets My parents bicycles were on the roof and my brother’s and mine were tied to the trunk Between us was our brand-new cat-carrying box with Miro our cat inside It was about 100 degrees in the car And 150 degrees in the box
Why is the cat’s tongue hanging out my brother asked I thought only dogs did that Maybe he thinks he’s a dog I said Actually he looked pretty sick His furry face was pale and his eyes were half-closed It’s too hot for him my father said Let him out of the box He’ll be fine But he wasn’t First he gave a pitiful howl then he threw up on the back seat Then he climbed in front and peed on my mother’s shoes The next thing we knew a wasp flew in the open window our car doesn’t have air-conditioning of course and stung my brother on the knee He howled Not a pitiful howl A loud angry howl that startled my father He
slammed on the brakes and the bikes fell off the trunk The car in back of us started honking its horn and flashing its lights We pulled onto the side of the road My father started attaching the bikes to the rack again while my mother put cream on my brother’s knee Then Miro tried to escape I couldn’t blame him He jumped out the car window and crawled under a blackberry bush My brother was still crying My father was still figuring out how to get the bikes back on the rack And I wasn’t allowed to get out of the car because it was too dangerous So it was up to my mother to capture him She got down on her hands and knees and in her soothing cat voice she started talking to Miro People were laughing as they drove by There was my mother down on all fours talking to a blackberry bush But slowly one step at a time Miro crept out from under the bush and my mother scooped him up in her arms Then she ran for the car I didn’t want to tell her but there were blackberry twigs in her hair It was going to be a long trip A whole day of beautiful winding mountain roads and scenic vistas But we’d get to Maine all right Just in time for
But you’ll see Another family vacation was about to begin
