“Jimmy! Jimmy!” Twelve-year-old Jimmy woke up. There was his mom, nudging him to go to their cousins’ house. Too excited, Jimmy jumped out of bed and got ready then ran downstairs to eat breakfast. He turned the corner and there was Spot barking at him. He patted Spot and gave him a treat. Jimmy sprang onto the stool and shoved a sweet-tasting blueberry bagel into his mouth. When he was done, he leapt off his stool and ran back upstairs to brush his teeth. Soon he was thrusting Spot into the car. Jimmy hopped into the car. Then they took off.
Half an hour later -- hmpf, hmpf, hmpf. Suddenly, the car ran out of gas. Spot started barking. Little one-year-old Bessie began crying. Samantha, Jimmy’s eight-year-old sister, said annoyingly, “Not again!” Luckily, they were right by a gas station, but it was on a hill so they had to push the car up the hill. Eventually, they got the car up the hill and filled the tank up. The car started right up again and they were back on the road for five minutes, then another disaster struck. They had a flat tire! And, once again, Spot started barking, Baby Bessie started crying, and Samantha repeated her annoying phrase, “Not again!” So their dad got out of the sea-green jeep and changed the tire.
Next, it started raining, and they came upon a construction site where they were fixing the road. The traffic stopped and Baby Bessie started stinking up the car with her dirty diaper. “What smells?!” Samantha said plugging her nose. Baby Bessie smiled. Everyone rolled down the windows. “Oh no, I forgot clean diapers!” said mom. After two hours of being stuck in traffic, they finally got to a store and bought some diapers.
After six hours of boredom and disasters, they finally arrived at their cousins’ house. Then they rang the doorbell. “Ding dong.” Sadly their cousins weren’t home. Spot started barking, Baby Bessie started crying, and Samantha said her annoying phrase, “Not again!”
“What will we do now?” asked Jimmy exhausted and disappointed.
“We will go to a hotel,” replied dad. So they drove another half an hour to the hotel and checked in.
The next morning Baby Bessie’s crying woke everyone up at 7:30. They got ready and arrived at their cousins’ house at 10:00. Finally, the door swung open, and they walked in. Their cousins sprang up.
Jimmy yelled, “Finally!!!”
His cousin, Alex, who was also twelve years old, shouted, “What took you so long?!”
Jimmy’s dad, Mr. Brown, explained why they were late. Jimmy’s uncle, also Mr. Brown, said that they were so late they thought they weren’t coming that day and decided to go out to dinner.
It had been a rough start, but the rest of the week went just as planned. Both families had so much fun during their visit. They went fishing, tubing, and water skiing. Everybody was so sad that they had to leave. The drive home was totally different then the drive there. They didn’t get any flat tires, didn’t run out of gas, it didn’t rain, and no construction in sight. And, the drive only took three hours instead of six.
The End
ON TRACK TO AP & HONORS COURSES (VIA THE IMAGINATION) !!
