Nelson On Tour: A Growing Up Nelson Short

Give Or Take....A Vacation

Once I said my final goodbyes to all of my friends and told Tre that I would see him everyday all summer long I raced down the hill from the school and to the pick up point hoping to see daddy waiting in the car like he always did every afternoon. I opened my atomic marshmallow and was ready to take a big bite when I was stopped at the surprising site of Tony standing at the curb. I almost dropped my chocolaty treat in the dirt when I saw him standing there looking like a bright yellow fish out of water.

"Hey Carlz! How was school?" He asked.

I almost didn't want to answer him but I had to remember to be nice to him because Tony is going to me much needed when I need him to cover for me if I happen to come home late from a party.

  "It was boring like it's always been. What are you doing here?" I asked him still clenching my snack in my left hand.

  "The boss was stuck in a meeting so he sent me to come and get you."

  "And did you forget a certain small blonde person with ocean blue eyes and an untied shoes?" I asked him sassily.

Tony cut and squinted his eyes at me and opened the door to the car and shoved me towards it.

  "Does it look like I would forget to pick up your brother?" He hissed at me as I peaked in the back seat and then looked up at Tony seeing it empty.

  "Uhhhh....yeah.....it does Anthony." I said folding my arms over my chest.

Tony's brown color drained from his face as the fear struck him hard like a ton of bricks. He pushed passed me to find that very same empty seat which Joey was supposed to be sitting in.

  "Bu-but....that's impossible! He was just-" Tony began as he was trying to figure out how he was going to explain this dilemma to my dad.

  "You do know that you're fired when we get home right?" I said to him shaking my head and not being much help to him at the moment.

  "Carlyn! Not now!" Tony yelled in a panic.

Just then the front passenger side window rolled down and out popped Joey's little face giving a toothless smile to me and giggling at Tony's scared behavior.

  "I'm right here Tony!" Joey shouted as he laughed.

Tony was shocked so out of his mind that he forgot that he still had his head slightly in the back seat. He went to stand up and banged the back of his head hard against the frame of the car.

  "Joey! Don't do that! You could have made me go into cardiac arrest just now!" Tony tried to scold as he rubbed the back of his head staring at Joey.

  "Actually all that Burger King you've been eating couldn't have done that." I joked.

Tony turned quickly to me cutting his eyes once again and sucked his teeth.

  "I'll have you know I watch what I eat!"

  "Yeah watch it go into your mouth!"

  "Little girl if you don't get in this car- don't make me come over there."

  "Ya gotta run over here first. Oh wait you can't!"

  "Don't make me take my belt off!"

  "That might take you all night!"

At this point Tony had enough of me giving him lip and gave up but not before telling me not to ask him for anything all summer. That was enough to make me realize that I was burning the one bridge that I would need to cross frequently.

  "Awww c'mon Tony you know I'm only kidding. I love you! You're like....everybody's favorite uncle! And I know how much weight you've lost. You can't stop feeling bad about being on a diet. Ya look good kid!"

Tony's mood lightened up a little and a small smile grew on his face like a budding tree branch.

  "God to see you being your much nicer self Carlyn." He said as he went to strut his way around to the driver side of the car.

  "So we're good then right? We cool?" I asked him with a smile.

  "I'll think about it. Go on and get it so we can get home. It's kinda hot out here."

I think he's still a little hurt from me cracking on him but he'll get over it by dinner I'm sure. Little did I know that the joke was going to be on me at the dinner table that night. Joey and I were called into the dining room at 7:15 every night by one of the cook staff for dinner every night since our adoption and we were always greeted by our dad at the head of the table. This particular night was just as strange as my pick up from school. Daddy wasn't at the his spot at the table and Joey looked at me with confusion.

  "What's going on Carly? Where's dad?"

  "I'm not sure JoeBoy. I kinda wanna know what's going on myself."

  "Maybe Regan is back?"

  "We'd know if she was kid."

  "How?"

  "Because she would come to our rooms and see us. Regan has free range and Paisley you know that."

  "Yeah. But what if-"

  "Shhhh. Listen!"

I interrupted as I heard footsteps coming towards the dining room from the hallway. Joe and I looked at each other and knew that it could only be one person.

  "He's coming!" We both shouted as we quickly bolted to the table and took our seats.

Out of breath and nervous we watched as the door came open and in he walked wearing an all blue suit and wearing for the first time out of his bedroom the the thinly framed readers. In his right and was was small book. From where I was sitting I didn't see any words or pictures on it. Something about tonight seemed very different. Daddy sat down at the table and dinner was served at last. Lentil soup with a huge side salad and bread. Dessert was a double chocolate cake with purple sprinkles. Since this was a very well planned and thought out dinner something inside of me was dying to find out what was up that custom tailored sleeve of his.

  "How was dinner guys?" He asked before taking a sip of his glass of water.

  "It was ok. Can we have cake now?" Joey responded with his eyes glued to the dessert cart behind me.

  "In a minute son. Your sister mustn't be all that hungry." He said with a grin as he looked my direction.

I gave him the side eye while stirring my spoon in my bowl trying to figure out what plans he has behind this dinner.

  "How was school Carlyn? Did you learn anything interesting before you waste it all away by sleeping in?" Daddy asked.

  "Oh! School was fine! In fact! I won't be wasting anything I learned because I'll be putting it to good use for a science scholarship."

  "Really now!"

  "Mmhmm! I have to do an oral report on how to be a productive citizen in society or something like that. Supposedly it helps to understand the human interaction when you do what you're supposed to. You know. Follow the law or whatever."

  "Hmmmm. Interesting!"

Oh no! I know when his sentences are only composed of those two words that only means one thing. He's definitely up to something.

"So what plans did you have for the summer? Other than working on this report of yours that is." He asked then scooping up some soup.

  "I was gonna spend some time with Tre and do usual teenage girl party all night and sleep in type stuff."

  "Well you might wanna call Tremaine and cancel." He replied flatly.

  "WHAT!?!?!?! WHY?!?!??" I cried dropping my spoon in the bowl splashing soup on my shirt.

  "Because I'll be away this summer and so will you."

  "Where ya going dad?" Joey asked excited.

  "We are going on tour!"

I thought I was going deaf as the sound of Joey's excited shrieks faded from my ears. I'm kissing my plans goodbye. Fabulous.