RamPrompTime

Oh! Dreadful Pleasant Vacation (Prompt: Vacation)

'... come on papa, it has been ages since you took us to grandpa's.' I sensed a tinge of annoyance in my daughter's tone and couldn't help smile. She had grown up and could now be angry. She was no longer the girl who could only plead and plead and then break down. 'Please, papa. We have a long weekend coming up. Will you please...'

'Alright, alright,' I relented with a sigh. I usually get tired in advance when I need to go on a trip and so, I avoid thinking about it. The actual vacation doesn't tire me so much. My daughter instantly broke into a 'hurrah,' and proceeded to hug me. Not all that grown up, after all. She's still my little one.

'Should it take so much pleading from your kid to melt your heart?' My wife remarked as she walked past me with a bucket full of clothes. 'How do you manage to stay active all day?' I said, intrigued more by her ability to do something every waking minute. 

'Now don't change the topic and keep your word,' she clipped me around my ears and went to attend to the next chore. I meanwhile repaired to the sofa and switched channels to avoid thinking about the trip.

The day ultimately came. Mother, daughter and a large duffel in tow, I snaked through the traffic with my micro hatchback, leaving larger vehicles in my wake. 'They must be cursing me,' I remarked to my daughter who responded with a totally unrelated, 'I wonder what grandma is making for dinner.' I went back to wondering if she was grown up or still a kid. In an hour, we were there - at her grandma's place and incidentally that of my parents. 

Pleasantries, hugs and smiles exchanged, we settled for coffee and snacks. It was still evening and there was ample time for dinner. 

'Alright,' I said and got up. My mother gave me the usual look of resignation. 'Leaving already?' 

'Yes, ma,' I said, 'I am expecting the electrician to...'

'I know, I know,' my mother waved me off. 'You are a very busy man. So busy, you don't have an hour to have dinner here.' She then went off on a tangent and lamented how I was all grown up. My father peeped from behind the newspaper, chuckled and went back to reading. 

As the sun set behind me as I drove back home, I sighed at the prospect of a long weekend. If the electrician would come as promised, we could have the wiring fixed. That would help me clean the house once. Else, I would have to clean once after dusting off the cobwebs and then again after the guy gives my walls the chicken-pox. and then there are the cockroaches... Oh my! How I wish I could stay back for dinner?