Summer in the City

Summer in the City — page 5 — normal vacation spot But that would never happen in my family Not with my parents This year something fishy is going on Usually by the end of school our living room is buried under a mountain of maps and guidebooks Off the Beaten Track Way Off or Places to Go Where Nobody Goes or 101 Dangerous Things to Do on Your Vacation open suitcases backpacks hiking boots diarrhea cures mosquito repellant rain ponchos you name it But this year Nothing The living room is empty and my parents haven’t made their usual great announcement I wonder what’s up Tonight just as we sat down to supper my father suddenly put on his serious face You know that look It happens when your parents want to tell you something important but don’t quite know how to go about it The serious look is supposed to make you pay attention And it works

Summer in the City — page 6 — I have to admit I was a little worried Was someone sick Were my parents getting a divorce As usual my little brother Max didn’t notice anything He was trying to slip an olive to our cat who was parked under the kitchen table Miro will eat anything Brussels sprouts avocados pickles anything My mother calls him the feline vacuum cleaner Then my father cleared his throat in his serious way Boys he said Max straightened on his chair and put on an innocent

Summer in the City — page 7 — look We are definitely not allowed to feed the cat at the table Boys we’ve been thinking about the summer I waited for the big announcement about where we were heading this time You could hear a pin drop Or was that Miro chewing on his olive My father looked at my mother He always does that when he can’t quite say something difficult like the time our last cat died the one we had before Miro My mother took over We’ve decided we’re going to spend the summer in the city this year she said There are plenty of things to do in Montreal We’ll be tourists but in our own city It’s called a stay-cation my father chimed in You’re on vacation but you stay home Get it I got it all right We weren’t going anywhere after all How come my brother asked What’s going on We just thought we’d change things this year my mother said But I could tell there was something she wasn’t saying Actually we haven’t had very much work lately my father explained So when we got some job offers for the

Summer in the City — page 8 — summer we thought we’d better accept Which means we have to stay home my mother finished I looked at Max and he looked at me I didn’t know what he was thinking but I knew what I thought Every year we went on some crazy trip to some off-the beaten-track place I always complained but I always ended up having great adventures That wasn’t going to happen this summer I felt sort of empty like when you wait all week for the championship ballgame and then it rains What do you think boys I shrugged I didn’t know what to say And anyway did I have a choice Can we eat now Max asked Typical My brother’s brain is in his stomach When dinner was over I went onto the front porch I looked at the empty street and the red brick houses across the way Was this supposed to be a change No way I lived here every day of the year I knew every detail by heart I knew Mr Plouffe the neighbor across the street would come out

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