Week 13: Snapshot

 

            The people that you decide to travel with can make or break the trip. In some cases, though, you can’t exactly choose who you want to spend your vacation time with. That was quite unfortunate for Riley as she watched her dad throw the last heavy overflowing suitcase into the trunk of the family SUV. Riley’s mom, Melanie, sat in the passenger seat, a grin on her face. The Swanson family never was able to pull off a family trip well. Especially not family trips where Riley’s dad, Paul, forced the family to drive 12 hours into the middle of nowhere North Dakota to visit his hometown.

            But somewhere beneath all the chaos, the Swansons made it work. Melanie had a calming effect on her husband, telling him to cool off if he was driving too aggressively, she’d always talk to him regardless if he was listening. For Paul was hard of hearing, and he enjoyed turning off his hearing aids from time to time to get a break from the world.

            “Wow,” Melanie exclaimed. Paul had just taken off. Riley was not prepared for another boring, dull 12 hour road trip to hell. “Look up at the sky, Riley! Do you see those geese? I wonder if they’re migrating south.”

            Melanie was a natural birder, she loved to point out the various types of birds to Riley wherever they went.

            “Yes, mom, I see what you mean…” Riley was a teenager. She was sick of her mom, she was sick of her dad, and in general she was a chaotic ball of angst. She did not want to go to North Dakota, she wanted to stay at home and hang out with her friends like normal teens did during break. Riley tried to hide her annoyance, but she didn’t know how much longer she could keep herself together.

            A whole year later, and nothing had changed—well one thing had changed. Paul threw in the last suitcase into the trunk of the family SUV. Riley sat in the passenger seat, playing with the reclining settings, trying to distract herself from the despair that surrounded her.

            Yes, the Swansons were making their annual trip out to North Dakota. This time around, it was apparent that someone was missing.

            An awkward silence flooded the atmosphere of the car as Paul jumped into the front seat and began to reverse out of the driveway. Riley didn’t know what else she could say. It was Melanie’s job was to do the talking, where the hell was Melanie?

            They drove down the same pairs of winding roads, out onto the same monotonous interstate. And Riley saw lots of geese flying in the sky, positioned together in the shape of a V, ready to fly south for the winter. Riley just couldn’t find herself to say anything as she watched the geese fly in perfect formation down to a more suitable home. Tears welled up in her eyes and she couldn’t figure out why.

            For Paul and Riley could only sit in silence. Neither of them wanted to talk about what they had witnessed and lost in the past month. Neither of them wanted to think about the fact that they were transporting Melanie’s ashes to her final resting place.

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