It was a hot summer day when I was playing in the pool with my four brothers. Trying to decide where to go later was like the beginning of World War III, none of us could agree on anything to do. My mother walked out of the cabana and asked what all the ruckus was. When we told her, she came up with her own solution. “Give me your choices and we will pull from a hat,” she said in a reasonable tone.
My oldest brother climbed out of the pool and ran soaking wet into the house. When he came back, he brought his old baseball cap covered in dirt stains and rips, along with a single sheet of crisp white paper. Mom ripped the paper into different sections then held the hat up high while swirling her fingers in the paper, deciding which would be her pick.
When she lifted her hand out of the ball cap, she held a single piece of paper that would determine what we would be doing for the next few hours. She squinted her hazel eyes trying to see the scribbled words through the intense sunlight. “Mel’s it is,” she announced as one of my younger brothers began splashing and cheering in the water. I could tell I was not the only one who was upset about not getting to choose where we were going. However, we began thinking about the perks of going to Mel’s.
I thought about the cool breeze whipping my hair around as I drove the go carts, the cool ice cream on my tongue as I try to keep up with the rapidly melting scoop of heaven, and about the exhilaration of playing an intense game of laser tag. I suddenly could not wait another minute to begin the journey. The more thoughts racing through my mind, the more anxious I was to get there.
We all left the pool to take showers and wash off all the chlorine from the time we spent in the pool. I had spent so much time in the water that my fingers had begun to prune and they looked like that of an eighty-year-old woman.
An hour later, the five of us stood in the foyer waiting for mom. The longer we waited, the more restless we grew and we started picking fights with each other. Mom walked down the stairs in the middle of a yelling match going on between two of my brothers. She was upset and said that if we continued to fight we would not be going anywhere, but instead staying home to do some much needed weeding in the yard.
We piled into the car and yet again started fighting over who got to sit up front and who was stuck in the back. Mom opened the door to the garage on her way back from getting her car keys she had left in the kitchen. She saw what was happening and, in a stern voice, said, “That’s it! Everybody out of the car, we’re weeding!”
Almost two hours later the five of us sat on the porch after spending a few hot hours weeding under the scorching sun. Walking out of the kitchen door, Mom had a bright smile on her face and ice cold lemonades for each of us. “Now I hope you have all learned your lesson,” she spoke in a sympathetic voice. In unison, we all mumbled a disappointed “Yes,” realizing it would be too late for us to go anywhere.
“Good! Now all of you go to your rooms and pack, we are going to spend the week at Hampton!” Instantly, all of our moods brightened and we ran to do as we were told. We learned our lesson earlier and we would be sure not to make the same mistake again.