I remember the summer road trip with Gram.
Mom drove,
Gram road shotgun
And my sister and I sat in the back.
I remember reading Island of the Blue Dolphins
And being totally immersed,
Amazed!
How quickly the scenery changed
From upstate NY to Niagara Falls
I remember wearing rain jackets and going down the long elevator.
I remember standing in wet caves
water crashing down in front of us.
I remember my sister wouldn’t go down the elevator.
Someone had to stay behind.
I remember stopping at K-mart or somewhere similar.
We ordered a pastry.
Gram went to cut the pastry
with a fork,
the fork immediately broke in half.
We started laughing so hard we cried.
I’m not sure why it was so funny
Maybe it had been a succession
Of stale food and mishaps
The broken fork the tipping point.
I remember visiting great Grammy Lydell during that road trip.
There was a particular smell
It permeated her home and her clothes.
Every time I smelled it, even years later,
I’d wonder if she was close by.
Until one day,
I smelled it in front of my mom.
Oh yea, she said,
She did always smell like Moth Balls!!
Lol. Oh well.
Cami Flake | San Rafael, California
