A JOHNSON’S FAMILY VACATION
“The beach is too crowded this time of the season.”
“We can go to the countryside then. I bet not too many people recall that the prairie flowers are in bloom”, dad replies to mother who had previously shouted from the kitchen. The Johnson family has yet another task at hand. Every year is the same. They argue about where to go on holiday because they leave all the planning for the last minute.
“Not in the countryside. It is too sunny there. Remember the sunburns I got the last time? I am not doing that again.” Gary, being the last born of the small family of four, always has a say as to where they would vacation. He is the baby of the house, after all.
“What do you think, Jenny?” mom asks Jennifer. She is an adolescent to be precise. She never really cares about where they go as long as she can take gorgeous photos to share with her friends once school resumed.
“Jenny! Did you hear me?” she has her headphones on as usual.
“Your mother is talking to you,” dad says as he yanks Jenny’s headphones from her ears.
“Yes. You said?”
“Vacation, where would you like to go this time?”
“How about Dubai, I think it would be a fun new experience. Plus, Stacy and her family are going there as well.”
Dad does not like that Jenny always tries to make vacations about other people rather than focus on them bonding as a family. “Family comes first. We need to go somewhere we can all gain a life skill and do activities that will bring us closer.”
“Let us do a challenge course then.”
“What an excellent idea, Gary. That way, we do not even have to spend too much money looking for accommodation. The challenge course is right across town.”
“I think that is a great idea as well. We can make it interesting and make it a wager. Girls versus Boys and whoever wins gets the prize money. What do you think, Jenny?”
Jenny looks at Gary angrily, but she knows there is nothing she can do. The decision is final.