Dad called the next day and asked if I wanted to go to the park. Mom was all on me wanting to know if my homework was done. Like my homework had ever been finished on a Saturday before. I was lucky to have it done by Sunday night. She sighed and told me I could go.
“Great. I saw this park by the expressway, and it looked nice. There’s a zoo there, too,” he said.
“I’ve never been to the zoo, but Ericka and I played tennis there.”
“Do you want to play?” he asked.
I asked Mom if he could borrow her racket, and she sighed again. I went to look for a clean pair of sweatpants, but all I found were ones stained with tomato sauce, chocolate, and blueberry… blueberry? When did I have fruit?
“Don’t let your father put the case on the filthy court, and my racket is not to touch the ground,” she said. “I’m not sure which one of you I trust less with it.”
Dad pulled in the driveway and honked the horn. We went to the zoo first and walked through the birdhouse. However, the sign for the birdhouse didn’t tell you you’re going to be attacked by butterflies or the fact you end up in the amphibian house, which led into Snake County. I about puked when I almost walked into a glass case with a four-foot snake wrapped around a branch.
“Um, Dad? Remember, I’m not a huge snake fan. Can we go back through the birdhouse?” I asked.
“Didn’t you just call the butterflies ‘objects from the devil’?” he asked.
I pointed out that normal butterflies wouldn’t fly in your face, and he said he’d form a human shield from them. However, we couldn’t get back in because some lady had passed out in front of the door. A zoo worker rushed to help her, but I couldn’t get through unless I walked over her… which I was more than willing to do to avoid the snakes, but there just wasn’t room.
“Okay, Snake County it is then. Just close your eyes and I’ll lead you to the exit,” Dad said. “It’s not far.”
“I could handle it if there’s just one or two snakes around the corner,” I said and he went to check.
“A couple of boas and a cobra that freaked me out.” He put his arm around my shoulders and led me through, while I kept my eyes shut.
“Almost there. All right, small dip in the floor, watch your step, now we’re five feet away,” he said. “Okay, cobra — keep ’em closed. And we’re out. You made it.”
I was nearly knocked over by a kid yelling, “It was so cool when the zookeeper fed it the mouse. You could see the shape slide down.”
I looked at my dad with horror.
“Why do you think I told you to keep your eyes closed? It wasn’t pretty,” he crossed his eyes.
We headed over to the tennis courts, but there were two older high school boys playing on the first court, and I didn’t want to play in front of them. We went to the last court, and I hit the ball right into the net. Dad had me running all over the court even though he was hitting the ball right to me. I was starting to get the hang of it when a little kid and his dad started playing next to us. The kid was about seven, and he returned every ball even though his dad wasn’t hitting them directly to him. Of course, I hit, like, fifty balls on their side. My parents both played on tennis teams in college and there I was tripping over my own feet. I was panting, and Dad suggested we stop and head back. Mom was in a better mood when we got home.
“Did you guys get your flu shots yet?” Dad asked.
Mom said she had been busy at work, but we were going this week. A complete lie since she’s even more afraid of needles than me. We watched a movie, and I snuggled up in the recliner, while Dad put his arm around Mom. Things were looking up. I went to the den to read and woke up at one in the morning with the light still on. I guess Mom never came in to say goodnight.
Dad was there when I got up in the morning, and he took us out to breakfast. I ordered scrambled eggs and hot chocolate with whipped cream and candy cane pieces in it. After we ate, he packed up and gave me a goodbye hug. I felt the peppermint taste burn in my throat as my eyes filled with tears. His coat started to smell like a wet dog from my crying.
“Sweetie, it won’t be long until we can see each other at Thanksgiving,” he said squeezing me. “And then there’s your birthday and Christmas.”
I didn’t trust myself to say anything, and I moved my head when I let go so he wouldn’t see me cry. I dug in my coat for a tissue, but I had to use a gross old one to blow my nose. He kissed us both, and we watched him leave. Mom’s eyes were red as we walked back to the car.
“We could still make it to church,” she said. “We’ll be a little late, but earlier than we usually are. You could say it’ll be the earliest we’ve been late.”
After church, I went to see my room as soon as we walked in the door. The room smelled, but the walls were a nice cool blue. It was freezing since we had left the window open all night, but my room was finally the perfect color. Mom came in behind me.
“Nice, although the grapefruit had a certain charm,” she said. I reminded her we had plenty left over to paint her room. “Don’t you have some homework to do?” she asked.