A Summer Vacation -- Excerpts

Danny’s Summer Vacation
. . . Summer is coming, and Danny is going on vacation with his family. They are going to the beach for two weeks. Danny can’t wait to see the ocean . . .

. . . Later in the playroom Danny finds Marta, his little sister. ¨I’m going on a trip.¨ she tells him, and puts her costumes in a big plastic bag. Jack, Danny’s little brother, fills a backpack with his favorite toys. Danny thinks he will bring a notebook and some pencils as well. The three go to Mom’s room with their things.
¨We’re all set.¨ says Jack, and dumps the backpack on her bed. Some of the smaller toys fall out of the side pocket.
¨Oh no.¨ she says, and gives the backpack to Jack again. ¨There’s no more room in the car.¨ Danny is worried. His teacher told him he should study a bit during summer vacation, and he tells Mom . . .

. . . After a long time they arrive. Dad stops the car in front of a little wooden house with a porch. Danny decides that he likes this house. It looks just like the picture of a house from a storybook that Danny had when he was little. Dad opens the trunk and Danny takes a smaller suitcase to help out. Jack is already on the porch looking into the windows. Mom carries Marta, who is asleep. Dad takes a key from his pocket and opens the front door, as if it were their very own house . . .

. . . ¨I want the top bed.¨ says Jack. At home Jack sleeps on the top bed, too, so Danny says okay. Jack tells him thanks, but Danny really likes to sleep in the bottom bed. It’s like sleeping on a boat, or in a train, or hidden away in a little cave . . .

. . . Every evening they stay at the beach until the sun goes down. It’s the best part of the day. ¨Hurry, Danny. Come sit by me.¨ says Marta. They always sit on a big blanket all together and watch the sun go down. The sky is different now, filled with reds and pinks and oranges. Danny’s eyes feel bigger when he looks at this sky. Every night the sunset looks different. Tonight the sun dips down and melts into the ocean like ice cream. The clouds high up in the sky look like pink birds.
¨Mmmmm. That was my favorite sunset so far.¨ says Danny . . .

. . . At night they eat dinner out on the back porch. Danny really likes the back porch. From here you can see the ocean a little bit, now dark blue in the night. The ocean at night reminds Danny of whales. That’s what a whale must look like, big and blue and cold. After dinner Dad tells them stories. Danny likes to sit and listen to the waves in the distance. It makes him feel sleepy. The air is cool and starts to smell like the fog of the morning, and Danny’s face always feels hot next to the fresh air . . .

. . . The day comes when Danny and his family have to pack their suitcases and go back home. Danny helps Mom organize their clothes.
¨Mom, what’s going to happen to this house now?¨ Danny asks.
¨I suppose another family will come to spend their vacation here.¨ says Mom, and takes the suitcase out into the hallway. Danny looks at the bunk beds and the little cot. It’s a lot smaller than their room back home. There aren’t any toys, and the floor creaks when you walk by, but Danny really likes this room. I like this room more than any other boy who comes on vacation thinks Danny, and follows Mom out into the hallway . . .

. . . The car is packed, and Dad calls for everyone to get in. Danny and Jack are on the back porch saying goodbye to the ocean. Jack throws rocks towards the ocean. They don’t get very far, so Danny doesn’t tell him to stop. Jack takes the last rock and puts it in his pocket for a souvenir. Danny looks at the blue ocean and thinks about whales and pink birds in the sky and fog that makes everything wet. Dad says that maybe they’ll come back again next summer. A whole year is a long time to be away from the ocean, thinks Danny, and turns to go to the car . . .

Jack’s Summer Vacation
. . . Summer is coming, and Jack is going on vacation with his family. They are going to the beach for two weeks. Jack goes to the playroom to look for his storybook about the ocean . . .

. . . ¨I’m going on a trip.¨ says Marta to Danny. She takes her bag of costumes and puts it over her shoulder. Jack fills his backpack with his favorite toys. It’s a good thing he remembers to bring toys because everyone else seems to have forgotten. Mom will probably thank him for being so responsible. Jack can’t wait to show her that he can help get ready for their trip, too, and goes to look for her in her room . . .

. . . After a very long time they stop in front of a small house. They all get out of the car, and Jack goes to the window to see who lives here. Maybe they have kids who will let him play with their toys. Dad takes a key out of his pocket and opens the door. Jack wonders if the family is going to be mad at them for letting themselves in without even ringing the doorbell . . .

. . . ¨I want the top bed.¨ says Jack. At home Danny always lets Jack sleep on the top bed. Maybe here Danny won’t be so nice, but Danny says okay and Jack is relieved. Danny must know that the bottom bed scares Jack. It seems too dark down there, like being in a cave . . .

. . . Every evening they stay at the beach until the sun goes down. It’s the best part of the day. They all snuggle together in a big blanket and watch the sky. The sky at the beach is different than the sky at home. At home the sun tucks itself behind a mountain every evening. Jack always wondered where the sun goes at night, but now he knows. It comes here where it melts right into the ocean. Jack wonders how it gets back out in the morning. He’ll have to ask Dad if they can wake up early one morning to see the sun come back out of the ocean . . .

. . . At night they eat dinner on the back porch. Jack really likes the back porch, but sits close to the light that hangs over the doorway. Far away he can see the ocean, which turns from blue to black. Jack asks Dad for a story. Dad always starts out the same way. ¨Once upon a time, there were three children - - Danny, Jack, and Marta. And one day . . .¨ From here on Dad always makes up something different. Sometimes there are pirates, other times dragons. Jack’s favorite story has a unicorn and lots of funny little gnomes. As Dad tells the story Jack looks at the ocean and makes up the pictures in his head . . .

. . . Jack goes out onto the back porch to say goodbye to the ocean. He finds some rocks at the edge of the porch, and wonders if he can make it to the ocean. One day the whole family walked to the end of a pier and Danny and Jack threw rocks so far that they couldn’t even see where they landed. Here Jack doesn’t have the same luck; the rocks hardly make it past the porch. Danny comes out onto the porch with him. Jack’s going to miss having toys like rocks to throw off of piers, and a shoreline that’s always moving, and lots of sand to make sand castles. He decides to take the last rock home with him, for good luck, and pushes it deep into his pocket . . .

Marta’s Summer Vacation

. . . Summer is coming, and Marta is going on vacation with her family. They are going to the beach for two weeks. Marta thinks it will be fun. A vacation and a beach must be really great things if the whole family is so excited . . .

. . . Marta watches Mom and Danny in the boys’ room. Mom puts clothes in a big suitcase. Marta goes to the playroom and finds a plastic bag. She puts her princess costumes inside the bag. Is this how to pack a suitcase? She takes the costumes out of the bag and folds them neatly. Then she puts them back into the bag, very quickly and with a serious face, like how Mom does it.
¨I’m going on a trip.¨ Marta says to Danny when he walks into the playroom. She leaves the playroom and walks around the halls with her bag over her shoulder. Going on a trip is sometimes a very serious thing . . .

. . . Marta wakes up when Mom takes her from the car. Marta doesn’t open her eyes, though. If she stays asleep she won’t have to walk. With her eyes closed, Marta wonders where they are. It smells funny. It doesn’t smell like a new car, or when Mom bakes cookies, or when they go on a picnic in the mountains. It doesn’t smell like anything Marta already knows about. Mom carries her into a house and sets her down on a bed. Here inside it smells like the attic at home where they keep the Christmas decorations. Marta opens her eyes. She is in a little room on a little bed. On the other side of the room are bunk beds. Danny puts their clothes away in a chest of drawers. Marta likes this little bed. It is small just like she is. When nighttime comes and they have to go to sleep she is going to talk with Danny and Jack after Mom and Dad turn off the light. At home Marta always listens from her bed as Danny and Jack talk into the night. She is the only girl and has to sleep alone in her bedroom. Marta thinks it’s okay that in this house she has to be a boy. At least she doesn’t have to sleep all by herself . . .

. . . Every evening they stay at the beach until the sun goes down. It’s the best part of the day. They all snuggle on a blanket together and watch the sky.
¨Hurry, Danny. Come sit by me.¨ Marta says to Danny. It’s really pretty to watch the sun go down. The sky turns red and orange and pink and that’s like magic, because the sky is supposed to be blue. Marta likes to be in the middle between the two boys because when the sun melts into the water then it is night. This sky is different than the one at home, and is magic. Maybe it can do more tricks and make something else melt out of the sky right at their feet. Marta holds on tight to her big brothers and watches the sunset . . .

. . . At night after dinner they sit on the back porch. Marta tries to stay awake like Danny and Jack. Dad begins a story. ¨Once upon a time there were three children – Danny, Jack, and Marta. One day . . .¨ Marta snuggles up in Mom’s lap. Sometimes Dad’s stories have witches. Marta closes her eyes and Dad tells a story about a unicorn. Marta knows what that is. It’s like a horse with a horn on its head. She closes her eyes and sees herself riding a white unicorn. She is so sleepy. She cuddles in Mom’s arms and thinks that this is what it must have been like to be a little baby, sleeping in her Mommy’s arms. Marta doesn’t remember when she was a little baby, but she’s sure she probably liked it a lot . . .

. . . One morning Mom wakes her up early from her little bed. Marta doesn’t want to wake up yet, but everybody seems to be busy, and she doesn’t want to miss out. She eats her cereal with Danny and Jack at the little table in the kitchen. Maybe they are going to go somewhere fun today. Mom and Dad seem to be getting a lot of things ready.
¨Mom, what time are we going home?¨ asks Danny.
¨You silly.¨ says Marta. ¨We already are home.¨ Sometimes she is very smart for being the littlest of them all . . .