Driving Home (Blogophilia 7.13)

"Daddy?"

"Yes, Emmy."

 "Why do you always drive when we go somewhere?

"Because your Daddy gets car sick if he doesn't," Mommy said before he could answer.

That wasn't the answer she expected. Daddy laughed.

"Hey, I only did it that one time."

"And it took Mom and me a week to get the smell out of her car." Mommy shot back. "She wasn't happy with us at all."

Emily had to agree with the smell. She always hated it when she threw up in the car. It burned the back of her throat. But she didn't do that anymore now she was seven.

The Reunion with Mommy's cousins had been fun. It was at some old Aunt's farm that Emily had never heard of. Charlie seemed to like it. Well, as much as a baby could. At least he didn't scream the whole time. He'd smile at people when they poked and gibbered at him. There is something about a baby that makes people act funny. Aunt Pam and Grandma were there and made their usual comments on how big they were getting and how proud they were of her for being such a good big sister.

There was an old barn with goats and pigs that smelled bad. A group of girls was out on the yard practicing Cheerleading. One of those girls put her on one of the horses as kind of a joke, but it turned out to be a lot of fun. Emily could still feel the lumpy pace even in her car seat. When the ride was finished, the same girl taught her how to brush and feed him. She'd like to do that again.

There were a couple of kids there she didn't like. Shelly was one of them. She was being a brat, always wanting things her way and whining to ride the horse again. Some boy decided he had enough. He pulled her skirt up and showed her Minnie Mouse panties. Some lady, Emily guessed was his mom, drug him around the side of the barn and got him crying good for being mean. He deserved it.

Now they were heading home and she was bored. The sun was warm as they came down the side of the mountain. The only radio station they could get played some kind of howling noise she couldn't understand. The road was like a roller coaster, twisting this way and that. Emily was getting drowsy as she looked out the window. As they rounded the curve, the billboard stared them in the face.

Emily's face lit up like a Christmas tree.

"Oooh! Look!" She screamed. "That looks so cool. Can we stop?"

Jimmy and Kathy looked at each other. They had hoped Emily had not seen the place on the way up.

"I don't know, Honey." Daddy pleaded  "We've still got a long way to get home."

"PPPlllleeeaseee?!"

"You know what, Jimmy?" Mommy popped up. "It does sound kind of cool. O.K., Sweetie. We'll stop. But we can't stay long."

"Yay!" Emily squealed and pointed to the sign at the bottom of the hill. "Look, there it is."

Daddy slowed down and pulled into the gravel lot in front of a little red building with what looked like scaffolding around it.

"O.K. Kiddo." Daddy said. "You heard you're Mom. We're just looking."

They piled out of the car. Mommy took advantage of the stop to change Charlie, while Emily and Daddy went up to the front door.  leading up to some grass terraces. And on them was one of the biggest billy goats Emily had ever seen. He looked like a king on his throne. His horns were so much bigger than the ones at the farm and he smelled just as bad. It turned out he was a lot friendlier than the little one that had chased her around the pasture.

It turned out the only thing they needed to pay for was some goat food. There was a stand where you could buy food and stuff, but she wasn't hungry. All she wanted to do was watch the goats as they climbed all over the building. Mommy asked her if she knew the difference between a Nanny and a Billy, and she said they were Mommy and Daddy and Billy had big horns. Daddy laughed and said she was right. Right then, one of the smaller goats stuck his head into Charlie's carrier. He did not like it a bit and started screaming. It took Mommy a good five minutes to calm him down. Once he got quiet Mommy said that was enough and they piled back into the car.

Emily didn't really want to go home. She was ready to do it all over again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It's writer's choice!

Topic-Family Reunion
Hard Prompt-include a tourist trap
Easy Prompt- include Minnie Mouse

Pic guesses; Goat on the roof, observation post, his throne, On top of the world, Sunny day.