Part One.
It was a bright sunny Spring day when I pulled up to Charlie and Benji's house. I always take them to school on Wednesday mornings, but this Wednesday didn't seem like every other one.
When Benji walked out alone with his lunch box in one hand and his backpack slung over his shoulder, it was confirmed: this was not a normal Wednesday.
Charlie was missing.
Benji's mom followed him out carrying his science fair project. "Charlie is not coming today," she announced. "She is sleeping in because we had a late night at Rebecca's baseball game." I nodded my approval.
After loading his backpack and supplies, Benji climbed up into the passenger seat of my Jeep. I shut my door and turned the ignition. I was still confused. This didn't feel right. We needed Charlie. I shook my head and whispered, "This isn't right, this doesn't feel right." Benji just stared out the window.
Feeling uneasy, I took the first turn and sped up a little. I went into the second turn and as I accelerated out the other side I realized I couldn't do this. I threw it in reverse, turned around and went the other direction. "What are you doing??!" Screamed Benji.
"Don't you feel it?" I asked. "This is not a normal day. We are not going to school without Charlie." I sped up heading East.
I parked outside Nona and Pops. "We're going to need some pocket waffles," I declared.
The bell jingled as we opened the door. "Good morning!" Nona called out. "Good morning!" Pops followed.
I was firm. We need some pocket waffles. Charlie is sleeping in today."
Charlie is sleeping in today echoed all across the town. Even the Mayor heard about it.
We climbed up in the Jeep again, pocket waffles and all, Benji's feet sticking to the floor mat where he had previously spilled pancake syrup on a different trip.
I took a hard left and headed North. The Mayor shouted behind us, "Is it true?!" I yelled out the window, "Yes! Charlie is sleeping in!"
An hour later the sun had risen to our right and our bellies were full. I hit hard on the brakes and pulled into a decent parking space. There aren't a whole lot of people at Stars and Strikes early on a weekday morning. In fact, we were the only ones.
We exchanged our shoes, picked out a ten pound ball and happily entered Lane One. Benji set up our score sheets on the computer on account of I can't operate that technology and before long, we were bowling! WE gathered more ten pound balls, one for each lane, and we proceeded to throw a ball down each lane, walking straight down to Lane Twenty and then working our way back to Lane One again. As fast as we could. Back and forth, slipping in our clownish bowling shoes.
Within ninety minutes we were worn slap out. We put in an order for fries and a coke, exchange dour shoes again and went into the video gameroom. I pulled four rolls of quarters out of my back jean pocket and we began playing. Within another sixty minutes, we had enough tickets to win a large purple hippo which Benji had to carry to the Jeep on account of my back was hurting from all the bending, throwing, pushing and pulling.
It was approaching noon, so I pulled the Jeep Southwest and put the pedal to the metal. We hummed along towards Augusta coming to a full stop at Top Golf. Leaving the hippo in the backseat, we entered Top Golf and secured us a hitting bay with a working ceiling fan and HDTV. I lounged back and propped my feet up while Benji took a few swings. I put in an order for Tres Tacos and a basket of Donut Hole-In-Ones. Eventually I took a few swings and we prepared to leave before 2:00.
The hippo was napping so we kept the radio low as we headed a little Southwest. I had one more stop to make before school would be out. Benji let out a big "Whoop!" as we pulled into the gnarly parking lot of the aging Frankie's Fun Park. I couldn't resist saying, "I feel the need..." and Benji responded, "The Need for Speed" and we high-fived. He tried to fist bump, but we grandmas still high-five.
We each got our own go-cart and revved our engines, side-by-side. The dude waved the flag and we were off. I learned a long time ago to keep my mouth shut when going fast, but young Benji hadn't learned that life lesson yet. He had his mouth wide open, laughing and screaming and then BAM! A bug flew into this mouth. His foot came off the pedal, his go-cart slowed down. Mine didn't. I took advantage and zoomed off to the finish line, securing the victory! He came limping along slowly, spitting and gagging and wiping his mouth.
"Hurry!" I yelled. "We have to go, we can't be late!" We jumped into the Jeep and drove fast and furious in a Northeast direction, mostly East.
We pulled up to his house at 4:10. As he grabbed his lunch box and backpack out of the back, I stage-whispered, "Leave the science fair project in the Jeep!"
His mom came to the door with Charlie behind, bed-head hair sticking out, "How was school?" She asked.
Benji smiled. "Best day ever!" He turned his head and winked at me as I slid the Jeep into gear.
Part Two
It was a bright, sunny spring day when Pookie pulled up to Charlie and Benji's house. She always takes them to school on Wednesday morning, but this Wednesday didn't seem like every other one.
When Benji walked out alone with his lunch box in one hand and his backpack slung over his shoulder, his mom, Patti, knew this was not going to be a normal Wednesday. She waved good-bye and walked back into the house. She helped Oliver get dressed and fed, then she woke baby Niall up and did the same for him. It was a good two hours later now, so she woke Charlie.
Charlie sprang up in bed with her hair poking out, "I'm late for school!" She ran to the bathroom to brush her teeth.
"Slow down," her mom chuckled. "You need the rest. Today is National Charlie Day! We are going to celebrate YOU today!"
Patti, Oliver, Niall and Charlie jumped in the van and headed to Nona and Pops. The bell jingled on the door as they entered to find Nona calling out, "Good morning!" followed by Pops, "Good morning! We heard you were sleeping in today."
Mom and Charlie got some pocket waffles with sprinkles and they loaded back up in the van. "First," Mom said, "We are stopping at the post office." Charlie took the mail key and ran in to get the mail. There on the top of the pile was a letter clearly addressed to Charlie. She ran back to the van, "Mom! I got a letter from Eva!!" She tore it wide open and Niall said, "Bah!"
Charlie read and re-read and read again her letter from Eva and began doing the puzzle Eva created for her while Patti drove the van East. As they passed the Mayor, he shouted out, "Charlie! You're awake!" Charlie gave him a thumbs up out her window while her hair blew into her mouth. Niall turned toward the window, "Bah!" he yelled.
They were on hour into the drive when Patti pulled over to refuel. "Charlie," She said firmly, "Here's twenty dollars. Go into the store and spend it all on candy. It's National Charlie Day!"
Charlie went up and down the aisles, back and forth. She grabbed two of everything she loved.
For the next hour of the drive, Charlie at her candy, did her puzzle and shared some candy with Oliver to which Niall sighed, "Bah!"
The van slowly rolled to a stop as it glided over a sandy parking lot. Mom put Niall and Oliver in the wagon and covered them with chairs, towels, buckets, shovels, water wings and a large, striped umbrella. Charlie pushed while mom pulled that full wagon through the sand dunes, arriving at the shoreline twenty minutes later.
It could be heard up and down the beach, "It's National Charlie Day!" as people squealed and jumped in the surf.
After a few hours, Oliver was sunburned, Charlie's candy was all gone or melted and the umbrella had inverted itself in the wind. They loaded up the wagon. Charlie pushed while Mom pulled and they trudged back to the van for the two hour drive West.
The boys slept while Charlie read books and played on mom's phone until the van slowed down in the crunchy parking lot of the mall. Charlie led the way as the whole bunch of them headed in. There were balloons and banners with Charlie's photo hung all around the mall. "It's National Charlie Day!" Not a single person said she should be in school.
Walking into Build-A-Bear, mom plunked a wad of money down on the counter and said, "I'd like three of your best bears." Then Ollie, Niall and Charlie began building their very own bears. Charlie's had a lot of pink and a big pink bow in her hair. She had purple and pink stripe legs with silver glitter all over. Ollie's bear was dark blue with puffy white paws and a monster truck in it's paw. Niall bit the nose off his bear, spit it across the room and said, "Bah!"
Sixty minutes later, Charlie led her brothers back down the mall, bears tucked securely under their arms. She stopped by the Pretzel Store and bought a pretzel for all of them. With mom's money, of course,
The people in the other stores all waved good-bye saying things like "It's National Charlie Day!" "Hey, here's some candy!" and "I love your bear, Charlie!" The whole way out, one person after another, cheering them on.
"Hurry!" Mom said, "We have to be home by 4:05 before Benji gets back from school!"
She put the hammer down and oh how that minivan zoomed! They careened around the corner and slid to a stop at Nona and Pops. The bell rang as they walked in, "Good afternoon!" called Nona. "Do you want the Charlie Day Special? People love it!"
"Yes, four please," Patti said as she plopped down a wad of money.
They each got a double scoop of the Charlie Special with sprinkles and gumballs on top, except for Niall, he got just a baby scoop with no gumballs. "Bah!" He yelled.
They drove back home and walked in the back door as Pookie and Benji were pulling up to the front door. They ran through the house, opened the front door and called out, "Benji, How was school today?"
"Best day ever!" said Benji and mom winked at Charlie. Ollie smiled while Niall grinned and said, "Bah!"
