We’re going to Disney World! It is Christmas
and my brother and I are sleeping on the pull-out couch at Nan and Pap’s. Santa
comes in the night and brings me a soft Barbie, the kind you can snuggle and
sleep with. I saw them on TV!
It is so dark and early when we get in Troy’s
truck to drive to the airport. We pile into the back seat and I am comfortably
dozing in a half-sleep state. I can smell Troy’s cigarette. He has the window
down, so most of the smoke goes right outside, but a small, sweet bit of it
drifts back toward me and it smells good.
At the airport, they put big orange and
yellow tags on our suitcases. They are going to fly on a different plane and
meet us there. But when we get to Florida and wait at the baggage claim, we
find one, two, three suitcases. The others never appear. The airport people
tell us they must have been tagged wrong and sent somewhere else, so we’ll get
them in a day or two.
At the hotel, we sort out what clothes we
have to share among four adults and two children. Nana finds my brother and I
shirts with matching sweats. Mine is pink and has Pocahontas on it. There is a Laundromat
in the hotel and we go with Nana each morning while our one change of clothes
washes. I catch myself staring at a washer, and not thinking and not realizing
I am awake. This seems like an important moment. My first daydream. I’ve read
about it and heard about it, but now I’ve felt it.
Even though the commercials make Florida look
warm and sunny and bright, it is cold. Sissy has diarrhea when we are walking
to a ride in Toon Town and we have to wait. We stop by the ocean and watch the
waves come up to the sand, but it’s so cold no one wants to touch the water.
Back in the hotel, all the grownups are getting
ready and talking and I have to sneeze. The bathroom is occupied. There are no Kleenexes
and this is coming out. I grab the closest thing, a t-shirt, and let ‘er rip. I
think it is Troy’s. A few minutes later, Sissy picks up the shirt and asks
what happened. “Who blew their nose in this clean shirt?” I say nothing. I hate
being in trouble. If I just keep quiet and look away, maybe she’ll forget that
it happened.
Before we leave, Nana makes a finally sweep
of the room to make sure we got everything. Papaw leaves a twenty dollar bill
on the nightstand for the cleaning ladies. Sissy whispers in my ear, “After
everyone leaves the room, run back in there and grab that money!” So I do.
“No! No! I was kidding. Go put it back,” she
says. Sometimes, I just can’t tell with her.
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