The Scary Trip

Powell residence.”  My foster mother spoke softly into the receiver.  It was mid-July and there had been hushed conversation about a vacation.  No matter how hard I tried to eavesdrop to catch this conversation, I usually ended up bumping into a flower pot or the wall or anything else that made noise along the wall. So, not able to portray the gift of espionage, I decided to give up trying to catch any of this conversation.1

“We did what?!” My mother screamed into the receiver. At the sound of this, I scrambled out of the black plush couch that was in bad need of repair and ran to the kitchen, where my mother and the phone were.2

“How many?”… Wow!... I’ll pick them up tom… Now?... When is the... That soon?... I will be there! Bye! 3

By then I was dying with emotion trying to make sense of what I just heard.4

“What do you want?” My mom asked when she spied me.5

“I was just wondering about your conversation on the phone. You sounded pretty excited.” I poured out.6

“Don’t worry about that. It’s no big, really. Now go along.” She returned.7

Two days later, the loud, annoying sound of beeps drifted into my slumber.  It was quickly cut off and replaced by my mother, who sounded like she had a megaphone embedded in her throat.  8

“Get up!  Pack your bags!  Hurry!  You are going to cause us to be late!”  Does this woman realize that it is a Saturday and yet has the nerve to wake us up at 7:30? I thought while trying to ignore her shouting, which was getting harder to do since she is starting to yell higher and louder.  I turned over and mumbled, “It’s Saturday. We have no school.” And just tried to go back to sleep.  Fat chance on that one! In one swift motion, she yanked the covers off of me, which made me curl up in a ball, and poured ice cold water down my neck. I was up in a heartbeat.9

I took a shower and changed clothes.  After I got packed and finally ready, I was told to go to the car.  Once we were all in the car, she went through her list of “mom” things: did we pack our deodorant, did we have enough clothes, did we use the bathroom before we left, those kinds of things. After we all answered her prodding questions, and after about 200 “Are you sure?”’s, we were finally on the road to the vacation I still haven’t found out about. 10

Three hours later, Dad announced, “We are almost there. I think we are going to have a wonderful weekend.” Almost there! All I see are trees, houses, and a sign that says “Ten miles from Santa Claus, Indiana.”  Why would anyone name a town Santa Claus? I thought to myself.  The idea was too perplexing to comprehend.  11

When we finally pulled into this “town”, I saw a huge amusement park.  “Here we are! This is Holiday World. This is your surprise vacation!”  Mom said to us as we pulled into the parking lot.  When we stopped, she handed each of us a bracelet saying, “Don’t lose this. It will let you ride any ride as many times as you want.  There are drink booths located all around the park, so you don’t have to come back to the car to get something to drink.  Feel free to wander, but meet back at this gate at sundown.  Also, meet us at the food court at noon.”  We ran our separate ways after that.  12

At about 11:30,  I decided to head towards the back side of the park to see the new rides when my younger brother and sister ran to me.  “Have you seen Mom?” 13

“No, I haven’t. Why?”14

“There is a ride here that says you are guaranteed to get wet.  We need to talk her into riding it with us.” 15

“I have a way we can do that.  Just follow me.”16

I took off toward the main office (the only reason I knew about the location is I had asked someone who worked here where it was.) and explained to them what we needed done.  As we were headed out of the office, we heard, “Kenneth and Debra Powell, meet your party at the Raging Rapids.”  We exchanged a three way high five and ran to meet mom and dad there.   17

They arrived about the same time we did and, shockingly, the people in line let us through.  Once on the ride, mom started to say, “If you guys do that to us again, you will be grounded!” but never had time to finish her sentence because just then a geyser erupted over her, dousing her immediately. 18

When we got off the ride, she was dripping water from every piece of clothing, but the rest of us were pretty much bone dry.  She told us that she was going to go to the van to change.  19

At around sundown, I decided to ride the park’s famed ride, The Raven. Since it was nearly the end of the day, the line was relatively short.  It was mid-ride when I heard a girl in the back say, “I don’t feel so good!” , then a yargle, half swallow, half gag , then something hot and sticky on my neck. I didn’t have to put my hand back there to state the obvious, but I did it anyway: she threw up on my neck!!!!! When  the ride stopped,  I got off and ran to the bathroom to get my neck cleaned off. After that, we decided to walk to our car so we can go to the hotel room. After that ride, I was beginning to like this vacation, despite the secrecy and vomit on the back of my neck.  20