First Story Part 1-revised

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“How will we tell the kids, Tommy?”

Silence. Lisbeth’s hand gripped the door handle and she eased it open a few more inches, breathing a prayer that it wouldn’t creak. Sinking down to the floor, she slid forward and motioned her brother to join her in the doorway. Sitting beside her, back to the wall, Danny pulled out his notebook and began scribbling before sticking it in her face.

Do you think it’s about Disney?

Swatting the paper away, Lisbeth leaned forward to hear what her dad would reply, but her mother spoke again. “They’ll be so disappointed. We’ve been planning this trip so long.” Still her dad didn’t speak. Lisbeth peeked around the corner, trying to see where her parents sat in the kitchen. Her mom was sitting with her back to the doorway so her dad was easy to spot, elbows on the table and head in his hands. Lisbeth bit her lip. Why are they canceling vacation? The last time they canceled a trip was when Danny had chicken pox. The news report she had seen the last evening flashed through her mind, something about people traveling less because of the economy. Lisbeth wasn’t sure what the “economy” was, but she figured it must have to do with money, something she had heard her parents whisper about before when they thought she was watching TV. Rolling over and sitting up, she glanced over at Danny and swallowed a giggle. At nine—just a year younger than her--Danny had the attention span of a gnat. In fact, he acted very much like a gnat—flying around everywhere, barely sitting still, and buzzing in everyone’s ears. At the moment he was laying on his back with his feet propped up on the wall flying a paper airplane. She recognized the plane as what was left of the note shoved in her face just minutes before. His notebook lay next to him, so she reached over and found a clean page.

No Disney this year. Maybe we’re going someplace else. No fussing when Mom tells us, OK?

Expertly folding the page into a jet, she let it fly across the room and it came to rest on the laundry hamper. Lisbeth pulled the door open and stepped on the creaky board before leaving the room. She knew her parents had heard and Danny poked his head up in surprise. She pointed to the hamper so he could see the airplane before heading out the door to the kitchen.

Two weeks later, Lisbeth was the one fussing while Danny ran around the house whooping and riding an imaginary bronco. “Why do we have to go to Aunt Jo’s? I want to ride roller coasters and swim in the pool all day, not look at cows and chickens,” she mumbled while foraging in the back of her closet. “I’d rather stay home.” Even as she said it, she knew she was being unfair. Danny was thrilled about driving out to the farm in Ohio and, since their parents couldn’t get off work for a long vacation, they had called her dad’s sister Jo to see if she could keep the kids at her place for a few weeks. Lisbeth knew how badly her parents felt about canceling their Disney vacation, so she knew that if they heard her complaining they’d be hurt. She’d just have to survive a few weeks. She could do that…Couldn’t she?