Claudia: On the Road

Bored wasn't the right word for their vacation.

Sure, Claudia told the other girls that she would be bored as would Mimi on their trip to Vermont, but bored didn't aptly describe a trip with Janine, let alone how scrunched up the five of them were in that one car.

Janine's mouth would open and she didn't understand half of what came out of it, but she made what should have been scenic views on the way to their destination suddenly dreadfully dull with details that Claudia didn't want to even remember.

"Shut up already," Claudia rolled her eyes.

"Claudia!" her mother said from the front seat, making Claudia realize suddenly that she'd said that out loud.

She gulped and glanced over at Janine who simply stared at her as if she'd grown a second head, yet the thought that they would never have anything in common crossed her mind. Janine would always be that alien dumped in the compost bin that her parents raised, or so Claudia thought. She glanced over at Mimi, who simply looked out the window as if nothing were happening.

The look on Janine's face—she simply stared.

Claudia opened her mouth to say that nobody wanted all of those details regarding whatever Janine was saying, only for her mouth to hang open, wondering if saying one more word would result in her getting grounded for the entire trip, and even after the fact. Her mouth pushed together as she wished suddenly she was on the trip with the Pike kids, rather than having to deal with her older sister.

"What if we had to ever babysit a younger Janine. Oh, the horror.":

"What exactly is going through that mind of yours?" her dad asked.

"You really don't want to know." Claudia let out a sigh, returning to looking out the window. She didn't know how to tell them how frustrating she might find babysitting a kid as Janine would be, but at least Janine was quiet for the rest of the road trip, although Claudia could sense that Janine was staring at her as if telling her to shut up hurt.

But then, her words the other day—Claudia was starting to think that some of the things she said and did actually did in fact hurt Janine, even though Janine didn't say it, but she wondered if Janine was aware of how unhuman she was. She wanted to ask, to have a conversation with Janine like she did when Mimi had her stroke, yet for some reason, she didn't—possibly out of fear she might say the wrong thing.

Things, after all, often never went well between her and Janine.