summer. But this summer there won't be one, not without Mommy and Daddy here."
"But what about the trip we took to France?" Pete said.
"That doesn't count as a real vacation," Annie said. "We went there for a wedding, so it was more like a working holiday."
"You could still take a real vacation," a female voice said.
It took us a while to realize who that voice belonged to. We looked around at one another. Nope, that wasn't any of our voices. And it certainly wasn't Pete's. Then we realized it was Mrs. Pete. Pete had been hogging the conversation ball so much, we'd forgotten she was even in the room!
And because it took us a moment to identify the speaker and then another moment to get over our shock at who was actually speaking, it took a further moment for what she'd said to fully register.
"But we can't do that," Georgia objected.
"Of course we can't," Durinda said, once again, shockingly, agreeing with Georgia.
"We can go by ourselves to do a Big Shop," Marcia said.
"Or even a Really Big Shop if necessary," Jackie said.
"But we can't go on a whole vacation all by ourselves," Annie said.
"It is tempting, though," Rebecca said.
"Eight little girls on vacation all by themselves?" Zinnia said. "That would draw too much attention."
"Drawing attention is always a bad thing," Petal said. "Draw attention to yourself and before you know it, your jig is up. Nope. Sorry. No can do. Perhaps another year. Or better yet, never."
"I meant that we could take you on a vacation," Mrs. Pete said gently.
"We could!" Pete said, taking the conversational ball back from Mrs. Pete. Huh. We'd never noticed before how much more of the talking he did. Maybe it was a guy thing?
Georgia made a face at him. "But don't you have to work for a living?"
"I have read about that," Marcia said. "If a person is supposed to work for a living and he stops doing it for too long, it can be a really bad thing."
"We'd hate to see Bill Collector come after you, Mr. Pete," Petal said solemnly.
Poor Petal. She still believed that all bill collectors were called Bill Collector, even though the only person we'd ever met who was actually named Bill Collector had been very nice to us and hadn't taken any of our money at all.
"I am allowed to take a vacation from time to time," Pete said.
"Seems to me that all you ever do lately," Rebecca said, "is take time off from work."
"I don't think this is really the moment for that, Rebecca," Jackie pointed out. "When the Petes are kind enough to offer to take us on vacation, it hardly seems appropriate to point out Mr. Pete's recent lax work habits."
"I want to go on a vacation!" Zinnia said.
"Oh, I don't know about this," Petal said worriedly. "Don't vacations sometimes end badly for people? If we stay home, we need never find out the answer to that question."
We ignored Petal.
"But if we did go," Annie said, " where would we go?"
"Yes," Georgia said, "where? After all, we've already been to Utah, the Big City, and France. What's left?"
The Petes thought about this for a long moment. Well, who could blame them for needing time? It was a tough question. What was left?
"The Seaside!" Pete burst out excitedly.
"Oh, I've always wanted to go," Mrs. Pete said.
The Seaside.
Oh, that did sound heavenly.
Suddenly, despite how glum we'd been earlier, we could feel ourselves growing excited. We were daring to hope, daring to dream.
"How would we get there?" Annie asked.
That was Annie all over, we thought, always insisting on being practical.
"I'd suggest my flatbed pickup," Pete said, "but you might get wet if it rains, plus there are no seat belts back there, which is too unsafe for a long road trip, so we'll take your Hummer."
"Thank the universe," Petal said, heaving a little sigh of relief, "that at least someone is thinking of safety issues. And thank the universe that we won't be traveling by train or plane. I've had quite enough of those modes of transportation for the time being, thank you very
"But what about the trip we took to France?" Pete said.
"That doesn't count as a real vacation," Annie said. "We went there for a wedding, so it was more like a working holiday."
"You could still take a real vacation," a female voice said.
It took us a while to realize who that voice belonged to. We looked around at one another. Nope, that wasn't any of our voices. And it certainly wasn't Pete's. Then we realized it was Mrs. Pete. Pete had been hogging the conversation ball so much, we'd forgotten she was even in the room!
And because it took us a moment to identify the speaker and then another moment to get over our shock at who was actually speaking, it took a further moment for what she'd said to fully register.
"But we can't do that," Georgia objected.
"Of course we can't," Durinda said, once again, shockingly, agreeing with Georgia.
"We can go by ourselves to do a Big Shop," Marcia said.
"Or even a Really Big Shop if necessary," Jackie said.
"But we can't go on a whole vacation all by ourselves," Annie said.
"It is tempting, though," Rebecca said.
"Eight little girls on vacation all by themselves?" Zinnia said. "That would draw too much attention."
"Drawing attention is always a bad thing," Petal said. "Draw attention to yourself and before you know it, your jig is up. Nope. Sorry. No can do. Perhaps another year. Or better yet, never."
"I meant that we could take you on a vacation," Mrs. Pete said gently.
"We could!" Pete said, taking the conversational ball back from Mrs. Pete. Huh. We'd never noticed before how much more of the talking he did. Maybe it was a guy thing?
Georgia made a face at him. "But don't you have to work for a living?"
"I have read about that," Marcia said. "If a person is supposed to work for a living and he stops doing it for too long, it can be a really bad thing."
"We'd hate to see Bill Collector come after you, Mr. Pete," Petal said solemnly.
Poor Petal. She still believed that all bill collectors were called Bill Collector, even though the only person we'd ever met who was actually named Bill Collector had been very nice to us and hadn't taken any of our money at all.
"I am allowed to take a vacation from time to time," Pete said.
"Seems to me that all you ever do lately," Rebecca said, "is take time off from work."
"I don't think this is really the moment for that, Rebecca," Jackie pointed out. "When the Petes are kind enough to offer to take us on vacation, it hardly seems appropriate to point out Mr. Pete's recent lax work habits."
"I want to go on a vacation!" Zinnia said.
"Oh, I don't know about this," Petal said worriedly. "Don't vacations sometimes end badly for people? If we stay home, we need never find out the answer to that question."
We ignored Petal.
"But if we did go," Annie said, " where would we go?"
"Yes," Georgia said, "where? After all, we've already been to Utah, the Big City, and France. What's left?"
The Petes thought about this for a long moment. Well, who could blame them for needing time? It was a tough question. What was left?
"The Seaside!" Pete burst out excitedly.
"Oh, I've always wanted to go," Mrs. Pete said.
The Seaside.
Oh, that did sound heavenly.
Suddenly, despite how glum we'd been earlier, we could feel ourselves growing excited. We were daring to hope, daring to dream.
"How would we get there?" Annie asked.
That was Annie all over, we thought, always insisting on being practical.
"I'd suggest my flatbed pickup," Pete said, "but you might get wet if it rains, plus there are no seat belts back there, which is too unsafe for a long road trip, so we'll take your Hummer."
"Thank the universe," Petal said, heaving a little sigh of relief, "that at least someone is thinking of safety issues. And thank the universe that we won't be traveling by train or plane. I've had quite enough of those modes of transportation for the time being, thank you very
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