Harvey and Lori Ferguson Ch. 21 Vacation Pt. 4

Valrae's Journal

The trip to Jumbok:

Mumma always makes a little token gift at Jumbok and makes a wish, but Daddy says "humbug" and sits around waiting until we're ready to go. It's not his favorite place on the island. This time, when nobody was looking (except for me) Gray put soap in the waterfall. He thought it would be fun to see bubbles going up to the sky. Guess what, though. Instead of bubbles, fire shot out of the pool below the waterfall and the waterfall itself was flaming. Mumma and me almost fainted and it smelled nasty. Daddy said that was the sulphur that smelled like rotten eggs.

I sneaked over and whispered to Gray,

"Even though I saw what you did I won't tell, but you owe me one now."

"Owe you one what?" he frowned at me and pretended to be dumb.

"You know; you owe me a favor."

"Aw, Mumma and Daddy don't care if I did do it and even if they do care, I'll take my punishment."

He said that because he doesn't like to owe me favors.

"Okay," I said, "So then I guess it's all right for me to tell Dadd--" and he slapped his hand over my mouth and whispered back,

"Okay, okay, I'll owe you one. I hope you're happy now, you little squealer."

I told him that since I wasn't telling them that I wasn't a squealer, but if I was such a thing then he was a coward for not telling them himself. That really made him mad. Especially when I said it might even be lying.

"I'm gonna pound you if you don't be quiet, Val."  His face was all red and he had his arm around my neck so he could quickly give me noogies if it was necessary. I knew he wouldn't really hit me, but I do not like noogies. I twisted out of his control and pinched his arm good and then I ran over by Mumma. She was reading the brochure on the new Paradise Park. When Gray watched me to see if I was telling he was rubbing himself where I pinched him and I stuck my tongue out at him. He looked around to see where our dad was and Daddy was checking out the walls that circle Jumbok so Gray shook his fist at me. Come ON, he doesn't even have muscles like Daddy. So I pretended to laugh silently and was slapping my knee. Then Gray's face got redder than before.

Later at the shack, we sat with Mumma and Daddy and had the traditional Pineapple Surprise. I guess me and Gray weren't mad anymore because I know I didn't even think about it. We usually get over our fights pretty quickly, but then that might be because usually either Mumma or Daddy yells at us if they hear it.

When we got home Mumma took me into the game room and Daddy told Gray to stay with him in the living room. I wondered if both of us were in trouble.

Mumma said to me,

"I know you and your brother have been thrown together 24 hours a day all week. Daddy and I thought it would be a good idea if you and I spent some time together right now just the two of us. Sometimes it's hard to be with the same person constantly without getting irritated at them."

I just nodded because I didn't really know what to say. Gray was irritating 50% of the time at home, too. The other 50% we got along fine. Still I was happy to have my mother to myself any time.

"So we can just read, or play a game or whatever you'd like," she said, "But Daddy and Gray will be staying out there and we'll stay in here, for now anyway."

"Will you read to me?" I asked. I just loved Mumma to do that because she made up all these funny voices.

"I sure will, sweetie--you pick out the books you want."

I could hear Daddy and Gray playing a video game in the living room and they were laughing and yelling at the game.

Later we were all in the kitchen to have a snack and Mumma brought out the pink lemonade pie she made the night before. It was way better than Pineapple Surprise. Yum!

 

Every time we go to Twikkii the same thing happens:  I get a suntan, Gray gets a suntan, Mumma gets a suntan and poor Daddy gets a sunBURN. A really bad one. Then Mumma has to put cold tea compresses on his skin and pats aloe or Noxcema there afterward. And she always says, "poor dear, poor dear" and kisses the top of his head because it's the only place he is not sunburned. Daddy always says it doesn't hurt, but then he swears it is absolutely the last darn time he's going to try to get a suntan. And then the next time we go to Twikki; he tries to get a suntan again anyway.

I love you and you love me,

Valrae Diana Ferguson

Narrator:

When the family was at Brickstone sometimes they ate outside on the deck when Harvey manned the grill. He often made barbeque ribs using his mother's famous rib recipe. Sometimes they read or napped under the thatched roof that they referred to as the gazebo. They enjoyed using it day and night.

The next morning was again hot and sunny, the twins were outdoors, of course; Valrae was making yet another sandcastle and Gray was playing on the hammock. Lori worked on her painting as she had been every morning for the last few days. She was somewhat desperate to finish it before they left for home. Harvey, still sunburned, rested on the chaise lounge behind his wife and was enjoying gazing at her shapely derriere. She was entirely unaware of his ogling.

Suddenly, without looking back at him she said, in a worried voice, "Honey, you shouldn't sit in the sun--why don't you take one of your naps in the gazebo?"

"I like the view from here," he grinned, but she was not looking at him, she was still absorbed in her painting.

"But you'll get a beautiful view of the ocean from the gazebo, too, just as nice as you do here and you'll be in the shade. Now scoot, sweetie, before you start blistering."

He got up, muttering,

"That's not the view I was talking about."

He relaxed on the loveseat out of the sun, but he was disgruntled and definitely frustrated. He couldn't see Lori's tush from there; he could hardly see her at all unless he craned his neck. He was one unhappy camper.

While their father fumed and their mother painted, Gray and Valrae decided it was time to hit the waves again. They were excited because they were going to Paradise Park later. Since it was a new attraction they didn't know much about it except for the brochure their mother had and what they had seen while driving by on their way to other places. 

Finally, halfway through the morning Harvey managed to cajole Lori away from her painting and up to their room for a little afternoon delight. That meant the kids had to get out of the water. They were sent up to take baths and dress for the park and told to play in their room until they were called and no grumbling.

"But, Harvey, what about your sunburn?" Lori murmured between kisses.

"What sunburn, honey?"

Valrae's Journal:

On our last day on Twikkii Island we went to Paradise Park. It was so much fun! There's a big pond in the middle of the park with a deck and a slide and a diving board. Or you can fish in the pond, too. Also there is a big huge pool to swim in with two slides.

First we went on the playground, even Mumma and Daddy went on the carousel and swings.

There's a trail through the park, too, and Gray and me walked that whole thing. When you're going down the trail there are things to do along the way like refreshment stands, hammocks, chess tables, a little wooden bridge and a fire dancer. When it got dark Daddy and Gray went swimming in the pond, but Mumma and me went in the pool. And then we had supper at the shack there.

While we were at the shack Mumma and Daddy asked us to tell them what had been our favorite attraction there at Twikkii. Gray said his favorite was South Beach Pirate Ship. I started to say mine was Paradise Park, but then I changed my mind and said every day at Brickstone with our beach and our games and Mumma's cooking.

The next morning it was time to leave Twikkii and go back home to Pleasantview. We made sure everything was clean and picked up for the next time and then we had to go. I'm always sad when we leave Brickstone Chateau, but we're lucky we have it to come back to whenever we want.

Anyway, I won't be writing in here for a while probably. Or at least until we are back at Grandpa Shep's. 

I love you and you love me,

Valrae Diana Ferguson

Next Update: Lalique Flynn Ch. 10 On Thin Ice

Harvey and Lori Ferguson Ch. 22 Jonesin' for a New Baby

 

Harvey and Lori Ferguson Ch. 21 Vacation Part 3

Valrae's Journal:

The next morning Mumma said to keep our clothes and faces clean and not to go swimming because in a little while we would leave for...THE PIRATE SHIP. Yay! Also she said we had a lot of sun the last couple days and she preferred we find something to do in the shade for a while so we played chess under the awning. Anyway, Daddy went swimming because, since he is the daddy, Mumma can't tell him what to do like she can Gray and me. Much. When he was in the water, though, Mumma stopped painting and followed him in. She always says she is much more relaxed in the water when he's with her because he's such a strong swimmer.

At South Beach--where the pirate ship is--they put in a new little playground at the front and I tried out the new ferris wheel while Mumma sat on the bench and watched me. Gray and Daddy were already on the ship. It was kinda scary, but not too much.

The ship is huge and when you are on it you can pretend to walk the plank; man the wheel, climb up in the crow's nest, fight a dummy pirate with a sword and look for concealed treasure in the captain's cabin. After I pretended to sword fight and did all the other things like going up in the crow's nest, walking out on the plank and pretending to steer the ship I went in the captain's cabin. I was hoping to find anything that might be antique.

I was sort of sneaking around pretending I was a detective investigating the scene of a crime. Anyway there were lots of old books, parchment papers and a fancy pen with a feather on the desk there. The desk had lots of cubbyholes. That's where the various treasures are supposed to be, and I was reaching in each cubby to see if there was anything interesting there. I heard a noise that sounded like a creaky door or a creaky chair and figured it was Gray trying to scare me. I didn't turn around I just said,

"I know it's you, Gray. You know Mumma said not to keep trying to scare me all the time."

The creaky noise got even louder and I turned around to yell at him and I could hardly get a word out. Coming toward me from the back of the cabin was a pirate ghost! I kept trying to call "Gray! Gray!" because I knew he was on deck, but my throat was not working right and my voice sounded like a frog being strangled, all croaky and whispery at the same time. Oh, well, calling Gray was a waste of time anyway, because not even if I'd been screaming would he have been paying attention. So I turned around again and ran through the cabin door and when I looked back the ghost was still coming after me. When I got far enough away he stopped and then began making hoogie-boogie scary sounds. It felt like all the hairs on my head and even the fluffy ones on my arms were trying to stand up straight. Gray was there by the dummy pirate and he looked up finally. Then you know what my crazy brother did? He walked right over there and started telling jokes to that ghost. Pretty soon the ghost was laughing like anything. Unfortunately, his laugh was almost as scary to me as his hoogie-boogies. Then Gray asked the ghost to teach him a pirate sea chantey. I was already going down the steps to the beach (as fast as I could) when he asked that. But Gray says that the Captain really did teach him a chantey. I should know because Gray sings it all the time now (too much, if you ask me) So, again I was a coward and Gray was brave. Why do these things always happen to me? Why can't I be a brave heroine like in all the books I read? It's most discouraging at times. And I didn't even find any treasure either.

When I got downstairs to the beach I went in the water where Mumma and Daddy were already swimming. When I finally tried to tell her about the ghost and Gray she told me never mind about that and to come with her to the girls' bathhouse and change back into our clothes. Then we went to get soft drinks. I got grape pop and Mumma got diet Sprite and we waited over by the refreshments and I told Mumma I hoped Gray had not been kidnapped by the ghost. But as I said that Gray came walking from the boys' bathhouse and got a can of grape pop, too. He looked just like his regular self, going "So what's up?" and tugging on a lock of my hair.

"Oh, nothing, I guess being chased by a ghost is boring to you since you're his best friend now," I huffed.

He grinned and said, "Nothing to it."

He grinned in a way that made me laugh, though. He always ends up making me laugh. He's a charming stinker like his daddy, is what Mumma always says.

We were all waiting for Daddy to come from the bathhouse.  When he did we went home and Mumma made Gray and me take baths again. When I asked why she said because we were only rinsing off at the bathhouse and it wasn't a real shower and even she was going to take another shower in a minute. Oh, well. Sometimes with parents you can't win.

This morning we are going to go to the Majestic Ruins of Jumbok. While we waited for Mumma to be ready I was sitting on the balcony off our bedroom, wearing my new pirate clothes Mumma bought at South Beach and thinking about nothing. You know how it's fun to do that sometimes? I just picked out a cloud and pretended in my head I was lying on that fluffy cloud and then while I watched it I thought of nothing. Yes, I know there's a game where you look at clouds and say what animal the cloud looks like but that's not what I was doing. I was drifting on that cloud in my mind and thinking of nothing. Just nothing.

"You're doing it again," Gray came out to the balcony, "Looking up at the sky and making your eyes all funny."

I told him I was thinking of nothing and that it was hard to do with him staring at me. He just shrugged and said,

"How can you think of nothing, unless you're asleep or dead? As soon as your brain forms a thought you have to be thinking of something."

"I can't hear you, Professor Logical, lalalalala," I squeezed my eyes shut.

He was quiet a minute then I heard him ask,

"Want some bubbles?"

I opened my eyes again and Gray was messing with the bubbles Mumma picked up for us at the Pirate Park. He had his own bottle and was holding out the other one to me.

I had been thinking I was too old to play with bubbles but...I couldn't let Gray have all the fun by himself. So we made bubbles for a while until Gray--who can't sit still except when he is drawing or sleeping--ran down to play jump rope out in back.

So when he did that I started writing all of this in my journal. But just now Daddy yelled up the stairs that anyone who wants to go to Jumbok with him had better shake a leg. He is talking about me because I can hear Mumma and Gray already down by the front door. Whenever I'm writing in here it seems like that's when they want me to do something or they come over and--Oh, no! I'll write more later 'cause now Daddy yelled "Valrae!" and he's counting "1...2...3..."

I love you, etc., etc., etc.!

Next blog update: Harvey and Lori Ferguson Ch. 21 Vacation Pt. 4