Where We Went
by Sam N. Seaborn, age ten going on eleven
Violet


Where we went on the long weekend was, my dad said we should take a trip together, and mom said where, and I said I wanted to go to the tar pits where the mammoths died, but my dad said we're going to see the Golden Gate, and my mom said oh god and my dad said now Deirdre I really think and she said no, no, she just meant it would be a long drive with the baby and all.

The baby she means is my little sister, who is Talia but I call her Tails because she has a chipmunk face and drool on her face. I like to go to the tar pits because you get to touch the mammoth bones. They were big and they had tusks and saber-tooth cats too. The word for the mammoths is "extinct."

In science last year Miss Thurmer told us extinct means they're not there anymore and Peter Hall asked where they went and she said it was because of a comet. But she said it how grownups say things when they don't want to explain because they don't think you're big enough to understand.

So the next day my dad made sandwiches. This is how my dad makes a sandwich so it doesn't get soggy. First you put the peanut butter on the bread and then you put the jelly, only my dad puts grape and strawberry both, and then you put the peanut butter on the other bread. And if you don't let it get smushed it will stay all morning so when you have lunch it isn't all gross like the ones we get at cold lunch.

My mom says hurry up or we're going to hit traffic. We pack the sandwiches and some orange soda and barbecue chips and mush for the baby and the baby goes in the car and I go in the car and Mom and Dad and the food go in the car, off we all go!

At our house it is still dark, and we go past the houses and my baseball field and we went past the school and soon it got light. I don't like driving through the dark. I sat in my seat and my seatbelt got all twisty. I sang the song that I heard that I don't know all the words so I just go Buh Buh Buh Bennie and the Jets until Mom turns around and goes, please honey, stop making that noise, and I sing it some more.

It got more and more light, and this is what I saw. We saw a skinny man with fuzzy snake hair and he was holding out his thumb and Dad said lock your door and he made Mom lock her door too. I saw a yellow Bug and you can't play punch buggy with the baby so I punched my seatbelt instead. It didn't hurt. The baby woke up and said gee, gee, which means, give me something to play with, so I gave her her gray bear which was my white bear before she chewed it up.

Now we are driving up the hills and the big faraway houses on both sides of the road like castles. Mom said isn't that house pretty and Dad said we could live there someday if we were all a bit careful. Then she said When you wish upon a star, which is from a song. It's a really good song, it goes, When you wish upon a star makes no difference who you are. Then they had an argument over where they could go to the gas station but it wasn't a mean argument.

We saw a house that had a fence with spikes in front and then we could see the ocean if I looked all the way through the trees. Mom turned all the way around in her seat to give the bottle and then Baby Tails spit juice all over everything, and all over herself and her car seat.

Before we got Tails she told me where babies come from and you wouldn't believe me if I told you.

I said why couldn't I have a brother instead. Mom said it's because she wanted a girl and God gave it to her. I asked if we could have a boy too and she said we'll see, which she meant No. I don't know why grownups say don't lie and then they lie to you, like when they say I'll tell you later and they mean I'll never tell you at all.

We were at the gas station for a long time and I wanted to eat my chips but I fell asleep. When I woke up we went by a school bus, it had kids and I waved but they couldn't see. Mom said maybe they were going to church, and I said why don't we go to church and she said ask your father and he said Oh so you're bringing that up again are you? Then they had the argument where she says he spends too much time at work and he says she spends too much period.

There were lots of other cars. They were blue and white and black and some were dirty. I saw a car with a flower painted on and signs painted. This is what the sign said: Let A Woman Choose. It had other signs but I didn't see what they said. I saw one red car and I pretended we were racing but then they got off the road. We went on the road some more.

For a long time we were by the water. I looked at the ocean, you know how it looks, it is big and blue and I was afraid the car would go down the hill into the water. So I played with Tails instead. I said Buh Buh Buh and she said it back, she's smart even though she's just a baby. At one place there was a big billboard with Mickey Mouse. I saw Mickey Mouse my last birthday, it was fun.

Look! said my mom. There was an orange cat by the roadside. Mom said she hoped it would have enough sense to stay off the road and Dad said he had a cat when he was a boy and it stuck its paw down a grate and tore it off. Mom said Shh and Dad said hey it happened it's a fact of life. She said I don't think the children need to hear that do you? He didn't say anymore.

I sang some more, Buh Buh Bennie and the Jets.

We went off one road to another and another and my father said keep the doors locked so we did until we came to a park. We went on a road to a parking lot and we drove around forever and ever till we found a place. Then we got out of the car. We are here!

This is what it looks like at the park at the marina. It has lots of trees and grass because of it is a park. I saw lots of people having their picnics, I saw some that have long hair, which some don't, and they played catch, and a baby with a popsicle and no clothes on. If you walk a long way you get to the water, it is deep and there are boats. Then my dad says Look over there.

The bridge is called the Golden Gate too but that must be a fib because it isn't golden, it's orange, like it rusted like my dad's sailboat does if he doesn't keep it clean. It goes up in the sky and cars go fast over it all day. I asked where were they going and Dad said they're not going anyplace, but they were. I saw. There were very many of them, as many as stars.

We set up at a picnic table. My dad said this is nice isn't it, all the fresh air. My mom said at home we have air and no mosquitoes, and I said at the tar pits they had air and sabertooths and Dad said I thought we came here to have a good time.

There was a brown dog. I said I wanted to go see the dog and Mom said it probably has fleas and Dad said don't go too far. I went over with Tails, but the dog wouldn't come over probably because it smelled us and dogs can smell if you have cats at home. We have cats at home.

On the grass by us there was a blanket and some people singing songs like this, La La La. There was a person with a guitar and lots of hair and I didn't know if it was a man or a lady. We went to see. They were having a cigarette. Then one of them said Hey and they looked at us. I didn't say anything until the lady-man with the guitar said, hey, where'd you come from?

I said we came in the car but I didn't tell him my address because you don't tell strangers. Then he stood up and he came over and he got down by me and my sister. He smelled funny and stinky and he pointed over my shoulder and said look, see that?

It was an island. It was big and it was in the water but not far away. There was a big rock and a building on top and I said yes I see it. Well that's a prison where they put people the man doesn't like. The man, means the government.

He said, just remember to love your brother and I said, no, she's my sister. Then he laughed and laughed and Tails began to cry as hard as she could and the lady-man got up and left us alone again. He played his guitar.

I yelled for the dog but he didn't come. Then we came back to the table. I asked my Dad if we had to go out on the island with the rocks and he said No. He said his name is called Alcatraz. Then he said we would go up on the bridge and walk on it. The bridge looked very high.

We opened our cooler. We got our sandwiches, which had two kinds of jelly which I told you about already they're really good. We drank juice and potato chips and cookies from a bag. We drank our orange soda. Then Tails was sick all over Mommy's lap and we cleaned it up.

She said, I don't want to drive home in the middle of the night.. Mom said that, not the baby, she can't talk. Then Dad said well you never want to get out of the house and she said well you never want to take me anywhere.

Dad said something to Mom I didn't hear and she just started to cry and hit him on the chest with her fists, and Dad said Sammy, please take your sister and walk around while we talk.

He said Please, only he said it in his voice he uses when I'm in Big Trouble like when I broke my grandma's glasses. I took Tails and I said come on Tails, come on chipmunk baby because she was crying too, but I don't ever cry.

I sang Buh Buh Bennie and I sang La La La like the blanket people and I couldn't hear what they were saying. La La La.

I picked a dandeline and I blew it on the baby. She laughed and then she got dandeline fluff in her mouth and she spat. Then Mommy and Daddy came to get us, they looked all red but they said everything was just fine really. We are going to go home now.

Tails said booboo and I said no, nobody had a booboo. We got in the car.

We didn't go on the orange bridge after all but I was glad because it was so far. The baby fell to sleep. I looked but I didn't see any animals by the street, no cats or dogs or anything. Mommy said they probably went home with their owners at night, but I think she was lying like grownups do again.

When it got dark I said do people go to prison even if they're good?

Mom looked at Dad and she said what people?

If people don't like you. Can they make you go to prison?

She said, No. Not even all the bad people go to prison. Only some. I asked Dad and he said, Be quiet, the baby's sleeping.

Then I didn't sing anything. We got to the dark and the lights were all orange. I picked up the baby's bear and it was slobbery so I wiped it on the seat. I held it and I pretended we went to the tar pits with the mammoth bones. I pretended we didn't go anywhere at all. I pretended I had a brother and a sister both and I had a guitar, and Mom and Dad never argued in the night. And I pretended. Then I fell to sleep.

When I woke up we were home and in to bed we go, this is where we went on our day. Then I fell to sleep some more.