Lily's Mysterious Trip

Lily walked out of her room, rubbing her sleepy eyes. It was Saturday morning; big things were planned.

“Mommy, I'm hungry,” Lily whined as she toddled into the kitchen.

“The pancakes are almost ready sweetie,” Kara replied without looking away from the stove. “Sit at the table and I'll bring you some juice.”

Lily mumbled a short protest and climbed up onto a chair. At age four, she could sit high enough to avoid being placed in her high chair. Lily propped her elbows on the table and set her head in her hands while she continued to watch her mommy cook.

Lilly frowned as she heard the sound of thunder coming from upstairs. Her brothers, Jackson and Michael, had just woken up. Down the stairs they ran, thumping loudly on each step.

“Morning Mah. Where's dad? Is he up yet? In the garage?” Jackson did not pause to breath between each question.

Kara laughed as she turned to face her eldest. Jackson was holding his basketball between his knees while he struggled with a knot in the shoe he held. She took the shoe from her ten year old son and undid the knot with her motherly magic.

“Your dad was outback fixing the ladder to the tree house,” Kara told her boys. “He was looking for the hammer recently. By chance, do you know where he left it?”

“I know!” cried Michael. He jumped up and down like an excited six year old. “It was on the porch!”

The two boys ran outside to find the hammer and their father. Kara turned off the stove and placed the last of the pancakes on a platter. Lily watched in amazement as her mom balanced five plates, five cups, and platter of pancakes. Jumping out of her chair, Lily ran to the fridge to grab the carton of orange juice.

“Thank you sweetie,” Kara said to her youngest.

Lily brought the carton to the table and was picked up by Kara.

“Morning hugs are the best!” Lily thought to herself.

Kara sat Lily in the chair with the toddler booster. Lily did not like being in the booster, but preferred it over the highchair. Kara fixed both of their plates, leaving a stack for the boys for when they decided to come back inside.

Kara looked out the kitchen window to see what the boys were doing. Jackson and Michael looked excited over what they were hearing from their father, Dan. Kara saw Dan put his finger over his lips to signify to the boys that it was a secret. Smiling she watched Lily happily eat her breakfast.

Michael came running in through the back door, appearing to fly into a chair at the table. Hastily he grabbed two pancakes from the stack and swallowed them whole. Without a word, he kissed his mom and ran upstairs.

“Boys are weird,” Lily said with a mouthful, shaking her head.

Dan came in with Jackson as Lily finished eating.

“Hurry up small fry,” Jackson told Lily. “Dad said we can take you to the park.”

“But I went to the park yesterday with mommy,” Lily protested.

Jackson made a horrid attempt at puppy dog eyes.

“Ew! No gross!” Lily exclaimed. “We'll go to the park. Just stop making that face!”

Kara picked up Lily from her seat at the table and the two went upstairs to get dressed. Lily was glad that she was old enough to pick her outfits. While they did not always match, Kara never complained.

Lily opened the door to her remodeled closet. The upper row had her winter clothes and the lower row her summer clothes. Dan set it up this way so that Lily wouldn't try to dress warm in the summer and cool in the winter.

Lily sat on the floor in front of her opened closet. Today felt like a blue day to her but she couldn't decide between the frilly top or the glitter top. Lilly sat and pondered for about five minutes before standing up. She took a pair of yellow shorts and the blue frilly top out of the closet.

After getting dressed, Lily ran to her parents room to get her hair brushed. Kara put Lily's hair up into two pigtails. Jackson was sitting at the top of the stairs to give Lily a piggy back ride downstairs. Lily jumped on her brothers back and down the stairs they went together. They stopped long enough to grab Lily's sandals from the rack before running out to the car.

During the car ride Lily became confused. They drove right past the park and onto the freeway. Lily did not like long car rides and began to squirm in her seat.

“Mommy where are we going?” she asked.

“We are going to the park,” was the reply.

“But, we just passed the park,” Lily pointed out.

“We'll be there soon,” was the only explanation received.

Lily pouted and crossed her arms. She did not like being left in the dark. Next to her, Jackson and Michael were whispering to each other about something. At least they seemed excited to be going to the unknown destination.

“I wanna go home,” Lily cried.

“Lily, we are almost there.” Jackson said trying to comfort her.

“I don't like where we are going,” Lily whined.

“Lily please stop whining,” Kara said from the passenger seat. “Daddy is trying to drive.”

“But I wanna go home now!” Lily wailed.

“Lily stop!” Dan shouted.

At this point Lily was upset and scared. She really did not like this unknown place. It was even worse that she made dad angry with all her fussing. Lilly sat closer to Jackson and cried silently for the rest of the trip.


“Lily, look out the window,” Jackson said nudging her.

At some point during the trip she fell asleep using Jackson's shoulder as a pillow. Out her window she saw a large tent surrounded by smaller tends. Lily though the place looked a little suspicious.

“I don't wanna go,” Lily pouted.

Lily's protesting did her no good. Jackson pulled her out of the car with him and Dan picked her up.

“We are at the circus,” Kara said, sounding exhausted from the argument Lily tried to start earlier.

Lily's eyes grew wide with excitement. This was the place that she heard her brothers talk about all week. Lily ran to catch up with her brothers. They were on their way to the children's tent to watch the animals perform.

Lily learned that sometimes, mystery trips are not always that bad.