Adopted

Chapter 81

London was so cool! And bonus - everyone speaks English. 

Mom took me to Madame Tussaud's wax museum, which was very cool. And a little spooky. We also went to the Tower of London, and the Tower Bridge, which is not the London Bridge.  The London Bridge is literally a plain cement bridge over the river Thames. The Tower Bridge is that blue one you see in pictures, that everyone thinks is the London Bridge. 

We took a bus tour on a double decker bus and saw Buckingham Palace and a bunch of other places. 

We had dinner at the hotel, and then, because I was tired from traveling, we went to the room and I fell asleep pretty quickly. 

In the morning, we got up and went to do some more tours, and went to Harrod's which is a department store like, I don't know, Nordstrom's maybe? And then we went to a Mark's and Spencer and it was a lot the same, but less expensive.  We also went to Piccadilly Circus. Which is not a circus at all.  It's a circle. Apparently they call them Circus's instead of Circles.  But Piccadilly Circus is a lot like Time's Square. 

Of course, we did somewhat educational stuff too.  We went to the London Museum, and a couple of galleries. Everything there was free!  I mean, there was no admission to go to the museums. 

We also went to a hotel for 'High Tea', which is something special. We had little sandwiches with cucumber and something called watercress, which looked like grass clippings. And didn't taste too different.  There were also all these little cakes and every type of tea you can think of. 

We went to Hyde Park and Mom told me that on Sundays, people would bring soap boxes - sometimes literally soap boxes, and would stand around and orate.  They could talk about pretty much anything they wanted, and people could respond and debate. But anyone could do it. Even if you weren't a Londoner.  I asked if Dad had ever done that. Something I could totally see him doing. She said no. 

We did all sorts of touristy things before heading back to the hotel for the night. We were flying out the next morning from Heathrow. 

We got up early enough to do our last minute packing, have breakfast and call for a taxi to the airport. 

We got there with more than enough time, and settled into the First Class lounge where I had a tea and a scone. I'd fallen in love with scones in England. We went through the photos on my phone and relived the trip. 

"So, your thoughts on a quick tour of Europe?"

"It's really cool. I mean, I kinda wish Dad could have been here, or that we could have stayed with him longer, but since I only have two weeks off school and I've already missed enough, it was great.  Thanks so much."

"My pleasure," Mom said, giving me a hug. "You deserve it. You've been so amazing with everything you've been through the past few months."

Our flight was called and we boarded. 

The flight home was long, and I slept most of it. The excitement of travel, I guess, tired me out. 

When we landed in LA, it was sunny and warm. So different from London's grey, wet and cold weather. It was so weird to think that in London, we'd be getting ready for dinner, and here we were landing at breakfast time, basically. 

Mom and I got our luggage and found Kala waiting for us outside the terminal. She drove us home and we told her all about our trip.  

Once we got home, I brought my luggage upstairs, and lay down on my bed for a moment. 

The sun was shining when I next opened my eyes.  Mom was standing over me and smiling. 

"Good morning, sleepyhead. I guess jet lag got to you, huh?"

"Good morning," I said, turning over. 

"Hungry?" 

"Mmmm, not really. But I just woke up, so I'm not sure my stomach is aware of that yet."

"I see," Mom smiled. "Well, get up, get dressed. We'll go out for breakfast and then go get some groceries, because after two weeks away, we have no food."

"Okay. I'll be downstairs in a few minutes," I said.  Mom left and I got up.

I did my thing, got dressed, grabbed a hoodie, because as much as it was warmer here than in Europe, it's still the first couple of days of January, and that is still winter. 

Mom and I went to an IHOP for breakfast, where I had pancakes and bacon, and hot chocolate. Then we went for groceries. 

I was helping her put them away when the doorbell rang. 

"Want to go get that for me?" she asked. 

I went to the door and Uncle Josh was standing there. 

"Hey kiddo! How was Europe?"

"Hey Uncle Josh! It was amazing!"

"I have your pups," he said, bringing Bogart and Penny into the house. 

"Puppies!" I said as the two dogs ran into the house yapping away. I got down on my knees and let them jump all over me. Mom came out and said hi to Josh. 

He came into the house and the three of us chatted and I showed him pictures from our trip on my phone. I told him all about the trip and the tour and so on. 

We just sort of hung out for a while, and then mom looked over at me. 

"You, bed, now." she said. 

"What?"

"Go take a nap. You're fading. Jet lag is catching up,"

"Kid, your eyes aren't even focusing anymore," Josh said. He picked me up and piggy backed me to my room. 

"Have a good nap," he said, depositing me on my bed. 

As usual, Mom was right. I fell asleep right away. 

I woke up in the pitch dark. Wow. Jet lag sucks. I looked at my clock and saw that it was two in the morning. What on earth was I going to do? I had school in the morning, but didn't think I could sleep anymore. 

I went into my bathroom and took my meds, changed into PJs, and then went downstairs and into the kitchen. I hadn't eaten dinner, so I opened the fridge and found some cold cuts, and made a sandwich and a glass of milk, and then put everything on the breakfast bar, cleaned up, and sat to eat. 

A light turned on upstairs. 

"Who's down there?!" Mom yelled. "I have a ... a gun!"

"Mom, it's me. And what?! You have a gun!?"

Mom came down the stairs holding... her cell phone in her hand. 

"Oh, sweetie. I'm sorry. I didn't know you'd wake up and didn't think you'd come downstairs if you did. What are you doing?"

"I got hungry," I said, through a mouthful of sandwich. "I didn't eat dinner."

"It's 2 am!" she said. 

"And you said you have a gun!"

"I don't have a gun. I thought you were a burglar and thought that would scare them."

"I don't think you should tell a burglar you have a gun. Even if you don't," I said. "It seems... unwise?"

"Fair enough. Finish up, clean up, and get back to bed.  School in the morning."

"I know, I know." I said. She kissed me on the head and went back upstairs. 

I ate the sandwich, put my plate and glass in the dishwasher and went back to bed. 

I managed to get a few more hours of sleep, of course that meant by the time my alarm went off for school, I was just starting to really fall asleep.