A few days passed. It was the night before the trip and the Willowbrook house was in disarray. Suitcases and travel bags sat on the floor, with clothes, toiletries, cameras, cell phone chargers, plane tickets and various other odds and ends. It was right after dinner and about an hour before Stacy got the kids ready for bed.
"You finish packing our stuff." Stacy ordered David. "I need to finish packing the kid's stuff."
Stacy started with the youngest and entered Zachary's room. To be technical, he was the oldest, but was now younger than Timothy biologically. Zachary's travel bags sat out, with all his clothes and diapers. One of his bags would hold his clothes. Another smaller bag would hold all his diapers. Yet another would hold all his toiletries. The last one held all his toys.
"Wha ya doing, mama?" Zachary asked.
"Mommy's packing your things for tomorrow," Stacy smiled, as she placed a handful of diapers into one of the bags. "Tomorrow, we are going on a big airplane to New York City. We will meet some really important people there. It will be fun, Zacky!"
Zachary smiled, and laughed when he heard this. "Airpane!" Zachary repeated.
After Stacy finished packing Zachary's things, she went into Timothy's room. Zachary followed her in. Timothy's luggage was similar to Zachary's, only there was a little less to carry. "I'm so glad that Timothy is toilet trained," she whispered as she packed Timothy's underwear and socks into his bag.
She went to Audrey's room last. Prior to dinner, Stacy told Audrey to pick out some toys that she wanted to take to New York. The toys she chose sat near her travel bags. She packed her clothes, toys and toiletries. Once again, another easy kid to pack for.
Another thing that Stacy packed were Zachary and Timothy's strollers, since they would get tired with all that walking.
The next morning, they were off to the airport. Everything was packed the night before, so leaving in the morning was easy. Stacy had some fresh fruit and cheerios in zip-loc bags, so breakfast for the kids was easy. They washed down the breakfast with juice boxes. For Stacy and David, they ate some granola bars to hold them over before the flight.
The Willowbrooks then flew out to New York. Some of the people on the flight recognized them, and gave them a smile. Zachary, in particular, was instantly recognized, which resulted in the passengers flooding Stacy with questions about him.
After getting off the plane, the next stop was the baggage claim. As Stacy got the last of their luggage, someone approached her. She told Stacy that they would take the luggage to the hotel and drop them off at their room.
This, of course, was not the day of the interview. The next day was, since they wanted to allow the Willowbrooks a day to get adjusted.
As the Willowbrooks left the airport, a couple of luxury sedans were waiting for them: A pair of black Audi A8's. Stacy went with Audrey and Zachary in the first Audi and David went with Timothy in the other one.
Audrey took her pacifier out of her mouth and grinned with excitement when she looked out the window. "Is this New York, mommy? The buildings here are very big."
Stacy nodded. "Yes it is, honey. The buildings are pretty big, aren't they?"
Zachary, who was sitting on Stacy's lap smiled. "Building really big mama!"
Meanwhile, David was in the other Audi with Timothy. "What do you think, Timmy?" he asked his son.
Timothy grinned with amazement, as he saw all the skyscrapers. "City really big! I like big buildings, daddy...."
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The Tale of Zachary Willowbrook: A Leap Day Paradox
General FictionZachary Willowbrook is no ordinary child. Born with a very rare medical condition on February 29th, Zachary's parents find that he is blessed with the gift of time. For every four years, Zachary only ages one year. How do others treat Zachary knowin...
