by A. J. Stern
An actual clown with a sad day look on his face walked by the information desk! Then, my father sent me a brain note. It said, “Don’t even think about it for one second, Frances Bird Miller!” That is when I sent him a brain note that said, “I AM thinking about it for one second, but I will NOT follow that clown to see if there is a supersecret juggling conference. I do not want to take the garbage out every day of my entire worldwide life.”
When my dad saw that I wasn’t going to follow the clown, we stood side by side and watched him. He walked right through the lobby, past the table where Henry and I were sitting and through the revolving doors. He was probably going to get into his clown car with his other clown friends. That’s when my dad took my hand and said, “C’mon, my little clown, let’s go find your mother.”
CHAPTER 12
The next morning, we took the Princessland shuttle bus with the Tilsons and some other people. The second I saw it up close, my eye sockets were shocktified.
There were the three real, live castles we saw on the drive to the hotel. Inside one of them was a tower room where they put a Rapunzel wig on you and you could let your hair hang out of the window. There were boats in canals you could ride on, and there was a zoo with real, live elephants, which are my favorite animal! They had real trains running throughout the entire park. And you could ride in them! There were real princes, princesses, kings, and queens in their gowns and crowns and capes. They walked around and you could meet them and shake their hands and get your picture taken with them! There was even royal money! It was like a giant’s imagination had exploded all over the place.
That is when I wrote on my brain paper to tell Mrs. Zucker that if she wanted to understand about imagination, THIS was the place to go.
We rode on carousels and bumper cars and horse and carriages! Finally, we saw the teacups and my mom gave a big gasp of excitement. She could not wait! I’d never seen my mom so excited for anything so kiddish before.
There was a long line for the teacups. When we finally got to the front, we saw the ride stopping to let people out. Everyone but one person got out. Do you know who it was?
Mrs. Zucker!
Finally it was our turn to ride the teacups. I sat with my mom and dad. Henry and Mr. Tilson sat in their own teacup. We held on to the middle handle. The ride started and we slowly turned in our teacups as we went around in a circle like on a carousel. I watched Mrs. Zucker throw her arms up and toss her head back. And when I looked at my mom, I was filled up to the very top of my head with love and happiness. Her eyes were closed and her entire face was smiling: her mouth, her cheeks, her eyebrows, her ears, and even her hair! I love my mother so, so, so, so, so, so much and I was so glad to be with her while she was spinning around and around in a teacup of happiness.
I went on the ride a machillion times (because that is my favorite number). I went in a teacup with my parents and Mrs. Zucker. Then I went in a teacup alone with my mom. Then I went alone with my dad. Then I went alone with Mrs. Zucker. Then I went alone with Henry, and then, finally, I went alone by myself. And by myself again and again and again.
I certainly loved being a guest speaker. And I certainly loved the idea of working at a hotel one day, but I was starting to wonder about a career in teacups. Of course, I would first have to find out if teacup ride workers had offices. If they did, I would move to Florida and work here. We could all live in the castle with Rapunzel! Or even the palace with the kings and queens.
Then every year when Mrs. Zucker would come to give her speech, we’d say, “Come stay with us in the castle, Mrs. Zucker!”
And every day, my mom, dad, Mrs. Zucker, and I could ride the teacups and laugh and laugh and say, “Is it just my imagination or are we having the best time ever?”
I certainly do have a big imagination. But looking at my mom and dad and all our new friends, I realized that my real life is just as big.
THE END.