Home

Chapter 60

The sun is barely up. The noise of footsteps wakes me from my nightmare. "Wake up," Matt yells down the hallway. 

I open my door and walk into the hallway to find Matt waiting for us. "What?" Chloe asks crossing her arms.

"We are all going swimming," he smiles. Chloe lowers her arms. "Hurry, go get your swim suits!" He shoos us away but he didn't have to. The possibility of us actually going swimming has been planted in our minds. Everyone begins scrambling to find their swim suits and a clean towel to take with us.

We all pile into the car as quickly as we can. The excitement has entered everyone even Momma. 

"The beach would be better don't ya think," Matt says.

"We can't drive all the way to the beach like this," Momma says but Matt doesn't seem to be listening.

"What yall think?" Matt turns around to face us in the backseat. "The beach right?"   

We all replied yes in unison. Momma mutters an okay knowing she had been defeated. She had been outvoted and she knew it. Everyone bolts from the car back into the house to pack a bag to take with us. Two minutes later we are back outside.

Momma and Matt are cleaning it out and trying to figure out where to put all our bags. They figured it out. Matt was in the driver seat. Momma was up front next to him. Chloe sat on the passenger side. The bags were stacked in the middle seat between me and Chloe all the way to the top. Max......well he was in the trunk.

The trunk is removable so we took it off and Max laid down in it. He rides in the trunk all the way to Florida. The air conditioner didn't work very well so we have to keep the windows down. The car ride there sucks but I am just happy I am not in the trunk.

After hours on the road, we reach Florida. It is still day time and we need to find a motel before we go to the beach. Momma finds us one. We throw all our stuff inside and head straight for the beach. We swim in the ocean and play with each other.

The sun begins to set and we head back to the room. Our growling stomachs reminding us that we haven't eaten in a while. Momma tells us to get dressed and we all go to get something to eat. After supper we crash in the room.

Later on Momma and Matt meet a friend that had moved to Florida. They met in AA. He was a big guy. He was real dark and tall. He always had a way to make any room he walked in get loud and roaring with laughter. I like him. Everybody really liked him. Momma and Matt called him up and said that we wanted to spend the time with him. He agreed and we hung out with him for the next couple of days.

The next day, we all went to the beach. After that, we went back to the motel. Momma, Matt, their friend, and Chloe played spades. Max and I went and played in the pool with the other kids. We were all having a good time. We even made plans for the next day.