Movie Night

 

THE FARTHER THEY drove through Oregon, the greener the world became. A quiet wet haze dampened everything. Not only were the roads wet, but sound seemed wet too. There was so much space here. So many grand ocean vistas, with white-capped gray waves and flocks of seabirds dive-bombing the ocean, hurtling themselves straight down into the water to reappear moments later, most times without a thing to show for their efforts, but every now and then one would resurface with a juicy fish pinched in its beak.

They camped for two days in Yachats, which looked like “Ya-cats,” but actually was pronounced “Ya-hats.” Here, unlike back home, giant pine trees meandered down hillsides, disappearing only for the width of the highway before reappearing on the other side of the road, wandering all the way down to the sand as if they fancied a day at the seaside. And their pine needles didn’t look dry and forest-firey the way they did in the mountains back home. Here they looked bendy and soft, like dark green porcupine quills.

They took a detour midway up the Oregon coast, veering inland across Highway 20, to visit Mom’s old college town. They ate a pizza that was, admittedly, better than any pizza Odette had ever eaten back home. Driving out of town, down a country road, they passed a tall yellow two-story house. A wind turbine spun lazily behind it and Odette saw a family—a man, a woman, and a girl about her age—working in the garden. The blue sky was open like a trusting face.

In Astoria, way up at the top of Oregon, they camped for a full week. It was a KOA campground, which stood for “Kampgrounds of America,” purposefully misspelled. This irritated Rex so much that he could barely stand to stay there, even with the “Bounce Pillow,” a giant air-filled red and yellow dome that kids jumped on for hours.

There was a pool, too, an indoor one because of all the rain. Steamy twice-breathed air filled the pool house, and the happy screams of little kids reverberated off the walls.

Rex splashed and swam until he grew pruney, wax plugs jammed into his ears to soften the noise of all the people, nose plugs clamped over his nostrils to keep out the water.

The last night at the Astoria campground, Odette’s parents insisted they watch this old movie called The Goonies. The four of them—plus Georgie—smashed together side by side on the big bed at the back of the Coach. Mom’s lap held the popcorn. The movie was about this group of misfit kids who lived in Astoria, Oregon. Their homes were threatened by rich bad guys who wanted to tear them down to build a golf course. The kids found a treasure map and headed off on an adventure of epic proportions. In the end, the kids find the treasure and save their neighborhood.

Odette knew her parents thought it would be fun to watch The Goonies because it was set in Astoria and they were actually in Astoria. But she could tell from the look on Dad’s face when the movie began that he’d forgotten about the whole losing-their-home element of the story.