The Secret Vacation

Morgan Richardson

John and his wife, Carol, are packing. They are silent but they are both thinking the same thing. They plan to take a trip. They are not telling their kids or any of their friends about it. They want it to be a secret vacation. Nobody knows but them and no one will or can know about this “Secret Trip.”

"Don’t you think this is rather odd? Think about it, I mean, going off somewhere, just leaving, and not letting anybody know where they are going?"

John starts packing while Carol tries to find an excuse to get out of work. "Her daughter is sick? She has a life-threatening malady? A relative died?"

She ponders her potential alibis while her husband frantically runs about the room, making sure they have everything and that they do not leave behind anything which might suggest something suspicious about how long they would be gone, where they were going, or anything else that must not be revealed. Their little girl Emily enters the room and asks, “Daddy, why are you packing everything up?”

As Emily asks, her eyes fill with wonder and despair. “You aren’t leaving me, are you?”

He picks her up and sits her in his lap. “Of course not sweetie, I’m just…” He stops and thinks of what to say. He doesn’t want to lie to her, but she simply can not know about the trip. No one could. Carol interjects at this point, an attempt to make a good excuse. “He’s packing for me sweetheart; I’m going to visit grandma for a while.”

Emily looks up at her mother confused. “But Mommy, Grandma lives right down the road.”

She looks at her husband in desperation. “I know, honey. I’m staying with her for a few days, and you have to stay here.”

The little girl looked a little sad but agreed. “Okay mommy, I think I’ll just go back to bed now.” After kissing both her parents on the cheek, she leaves and returns to the room that she shares with her older brother.

After John is finished packing, his wife dials the phone to call her boss. She tells him that she is very sick and can not possibly come to work for the next week. After she hangs up, they pile their stuff into their car, trying to be very quiet, and leave. The children wake up and realize that their parents are gone, leaving the six and nine year- olds to fend for themselves.

"So where did they go? When are they coming back? Were they even coming back at all?"