Amy thought it would be a good idea for all the Grapes to go on a family trip. This may seem like a good idea to, “let’s all get along” Amy, but the Grape family never does a thing together. We can hardly manage to be in the living room together for more than an hour, let alone travel in a car to some arbitrary destination that doesn’t cost a fortune. With Momma as big as she is and Arnie as challenged as he is, a family outing just seems foolish to Gilbert Grape. But, Gilbert Grape is not in charge, so Amy makes many of the decisions for the whole family.
We piled in to the undersized sedan after Momma’s sixth meal of the day on Saturday. I had to tell Mr. Lamson that I was unable to work the next few days, but he was happy to hear that Momma was getting out of the house for a change. Momma had a different opinion on the subject, but regardless, the Grape family was on the road. Amy was driving with Momma in the passenger seat. Ellen and I made Arnie sit in the middle of the back seat to stop him from opening the door as the car was moving. As useful as the “child lock” may seem, it would take twenty minutes for us all to get out of the car if Amy had to open the two back doors and help Momma get out from her front set. With an overly sized mother and a challenged brother, the Grapes did nothing in a hurry that afternoon.
Despite the bag of snacks Amy packed for Momma, we stopped about two hours into the trip at a Burger Barn. The hype about the Burger Barn that’s under construction in Endora sparked our curiosity for the fast food chain. Arnie was getting antsy in the crowded back seat, so the stop was beneficial to many.
Amy was keeping the final destination of our trip a secret, Arnie would not stop asking questions, and Ellen would comment everytime we passed a store that she HAD to go in. We didn’t stop once for the life necessity she was planning on buying. The activity of Momma was unclear to us in the back, but it looked as if she slept much of the ride. The bag of activities I packed for Arnie was enough to keep him busy for about ten minutes after we left the Burger Barn. It was up to me, his unofficial guardian, to occupy him before Amy drove us all off a cliff to end his endless questioning about anything and everything. We played a few word games using the passing billboards and road signs, but watching over Arnie’s tendency to cheat and playing the game yourself is nearly impossible, so I just pretended to play and let him take over.
Amy gave us a five minute warning as we approached our destination. Momma was awake, Ellen stopped reading her magazines, Arnie started out the window, and I watched everyone as they went about their business. According to Arnie it was exactly six minutes and forty-seven seconds later that we pulled into the cemetery that was home to my father.