In the morning with the fog and the mist stretching over the R.V., Dad and I took the dog's on the leashy thing, and made them go to the restroom. I had had a good night's sleep. After doing that, we put the wet footed dogs in their crate, and Dad decided we were to go on a nice morning's walk. Rebecca was awake, and he told us to get on the proper clothing. A jacket, jeans, two shirts, and a hat would suffice. Mom was awake too but didn't really want to go. From one of the bays we got walking sticks. I got the spinny cylinder one, Dad with the square wooden one. I was glad to go on a walk, get a little exercise. We walked along the road, not seeing our friends. It was about 7:42. But are hands and fingers were cold. So Rebecca and I went back inside, searching for our wool gloves. I looked in the cabinets for my Christmas blue one's but couldn't find them. I got the work gloves Dad had given me, the leather yellow ones with a lot of black on them, from dirt and... other things. It wasn't what I wanted, but it was sufficent. Mom wanted to go too, and got on her shoes and stuff. I waited down the road, slowly walking. She came out and turned right, by the creek and launch pad. I said, "Hey Mom," . She was confused, as Rebecca told her they went on the left. She came and put her arm around me, and we talked a little.
We caught up to Dad as he was telling Rebecca about how they formed all the canals in the fifty's and put the houses up in between. We talked about the weather, and the Penny family and playing around. Our sticks fell on the damp asphalt, making little sounds. We walked out of the R.V. park, down a neighborhood, with trailers, and some nice houses in the overgrowth. They all had like gardens and trees, very dark in the canopy of trees surrounding it. We saw a wooden house with a staircase, and a lot of raised houses with stilts. And cars under it, with stairs going up to a second floor. There was a house we passed with a boat in a dock, by a small creek that led up into the canals. Dad said it was really shallow. We passed by many small homes too, one floored, with open garages to the right or left. I liked having this time with Dad and Mom, seeing dirt roads, pretty houses, and talking of times and stories. There was a chill morning air, very cold but not too much. We passed by for sale homes, and many others. I even texted Mary Beth, who was in bed. Funny. Girls sleep in so late. Not us nation-travelers, no sir. We wake up at the crack of dawn, and then go out for a walk every day. (not true.) But I can make one fact. At home, when I was at RNE, only a walking distance from our house, we DID walk every day. And we do walk a lot, in museums and around towns. So I guess... but never mind.
It was an hour, as we saw cars pass by and people get there mail. I thought that we were going to go over hills and in forests, because of the sticks, but that long and cool neighborhood was all we saw. Oh well. Rebecca was really cold, even though we were in Florida, and Mom needed to go to the restroom. So, they parted, and went back as father and son prodded on. We talked about money, rent, jobs, and things Dad would do if he didn't have the car dealership. We came up to a house on the right with dirt road, and a gate and a house with several mean signs saying to go away and for school buses to turn around. I guess someone wants a little privacy. Understandable. No privacy in the R.V. So we had to turn around, and did. I saw in a trashcan a circuit board from a computer, and looked with interest. I'm so interested in how they make computers work and store all the information. Dad told me when we came home he would give me a circuit board, and I could take it apart and look at it as much as I wanted. So we moved on. Dad showed me a brown painted house with a ramp up a side entrance, and he asked me to deduct a few things from it. I said that it was old and was built before people wanted safety from floods, and that maybe it was vacant now.
Dad said also because of the ramp a man with a wheelchair lived there, and I added to it that that the bell might be for the daughter or nurse of the handicapped person. We moved on, saw more for sale houses (that's kinda sad) and talked about real estate. After that we saw a garbage truck come by, and a man on the back, picking up trash cans and emptying the cans in the open part of the back. Done with that we entered the R.V. park again, and came in the R.V. after putting the sticks in the back of the jeep.We walked in to see Rebecca watching TV, on her couch. Mom was taking a shower. Then I did, and then Dad as Mom fed me the left overs of the last night's hamburgers, with ketchup, cutter up with no bun. It actually tasted pretty good.
I heard a knock on the door and then went over to see Christopher and Jonathan at the door. I told them to give me five minutes; for I was eating. Then I finished it with some water and then put it in the trash. I got on a jacket, told Rebecca as she dressed and a naked Dad went back away from view. Sorry for the unessaray details on that one. But anyway, Rebecca and I came out and said good morning to our friends. We went over to their R.V. and saw Melanie and Amy. All was good. We then decided to play a few games, and proceeded to do so. We went our separate ways, as Jonathan said that he wanted to show me a game on the play station. He got some controllers, a computer, and some other things. We went in that lounge and he set it all up, making it project on the T.V. screen by way of USB cords. He put on a thing called Halo, and gave me the wireless controller while he and Christopher had ones connected to a place in the T.V. He selected locations and skills, and I organized my own armor. The game has something to do with aliens. Then we selected guns, and quickly Jonathan went through what part did what. I was bewildered, and tried to remember and process everything he said. But I couldn't. And that's what brought my downfall.
It drew a crowd, Rebecca, Melanie and Amy coming into watch. Rebecca wanted to play Sardines again. And not do video games. But I was determined to try this out. I don't own a game system except for wii, and I only use that when friends come around. Some of my friends like video games though, so I'm not alien to the practice. But I have learned I am pretty bad as it, or I "suck" at it, as the children of this generation say. We picked a level called Juggernaut, where each round one person is the highly shielded and strong juggernaut and the other two players try to destroy that person. It does it randomly. The first round, on the screen it flashed and said Bear, my code name, "was the Juggernaut" as the deep voice said. I only knew how to turn around, and turn around with my eyes, and go up and down. And to shoot. That was it. The experienced and advantaged gamers, Christopher and Jonathan, came on me from both sides and from balconies, shooting me up, making me dead before you could say supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. Then I was it again, going through the sandy corridors and around, anxious and knowing I probably wouldn't win. And then they shot. I tried to spin around and shot a lot, but I died and had to "re spawn" as they say in the game.
Then Jonathan became it, and still I tried to shoot him but couldn't. I pleaded with them to go easy on me, I was not good and this was my first time playing. They played easy on me, but I still was blown out of the park. I like to do other things than play video games, like reading and writing and playing football, and acting and making videos. Not VIDEO games though. I asked Jonathan if he wanted to be a video game designer. He said he actually loved animals and thought he would rescue them. Earlier when parking our bikes we saw a black and white cat, named Sam. He said hello and explained to me that the cat belonged to the owner of the R.V. parks, Neil. I probably would be fine with cats if I wasn't allergic to them. But Dad hates them, Rebecca's allergic and doesn't really like them, and Mom is neutral. We're not really a cat family. Don't send us your cat for us to babysit while you go on a trip, Lacy (my old babysitter, see "RUMC Visit and the Hicks" to see who they are). The cat won't see the next day. No joke. But back to the blog. The girls, excluding Rebecca, even though they were girls, were actually commenting on my performance, and saying what I should've done, and used the words from the game. So even though they were girls, from seeing Jonathan do it, they knew about the game. Kind of funny.
I gave up on it. It simply wasn't fun for me. For others maybe, but I was not a fan. So I put it down and walked out, wanting to do something else. Jonathan put up the video game, and we took it back to his house. Later we decided to play robber scenes, as the girls were sorting acorns, of all boring things. I'll never get girls. Christopher was a cop inside sometimes, and then maybe I was a cop once and Jonathan a drug dealer. We would have a little play acting, and then a shoot 'em up bang bang. He'd think fast, and usually we shot each other at about the same time, because we knew what was going to happen. We did a lot of different scenarios. It kept us busy for a while. Christopher was doing the thing with the girls. Jonathan said that when Christopher didn't have the orange bike he now enjoys, he would stay inside and watch T.V., and that's why he's so chubby. He would also say he was fat in public. I felt bad for ole' Chris. I gave him encouragment as he played around, and told him it was good to exercise and have physical activity. I hope he loses a lot of weight. Christopher is an alright guy. And he said he likes me as a friend too. It was fun to play in the sun, and to have friends over again after not seeing friends for a long time on the trip, because of school out and not many kids living at R.V. parks. I like the Penny family pretty well, Jonathan is a good talker and player, Melanie may be a little mean but Rebecca has a good time with her, Christopher is fun, and Amy is very funny.
I'm actually faster than Jonathan, if you'll believe it. Even though he's thinner, I have a greater speed. In Detroit we raced. And here we did too. Won both times. I don't know why. But Mom and Dad were in lawn chairs, and took themselves and the dogs to the dog park behind some of the R.V.'s across the green bowl behind the Penny's R.V. They ran and went to the restroom as they wished. It was a little field, with many dogs, two entry ways, and trees to the far place. As the boys went to get their weapons, I hid in the dog park. I watched them as they got out of the R.V. and made their way to their bikes. Then they went to the R.V., looking for me. I made a few noises and they came on over. The girls were soon to follow. I said hello to the guys. Jonathan was a natural with Rocky, as we all sat down. The girls too, rubbing the tummy of the in Heaven Rocky and petting the content Emma. I was touching a leaf and then... I screamed like a girl as I spotted a bit of dog poop on my finger. I then got up, and found some on my knee on my jeans. I told Mom as I went back to the R.V., changed pants and washed my hands well. I came back out to people calling me Dr. Poopie hands, when I had told them about Dr. Von Handson. It was kind of embarrassing... wait, scratch that, really embarrassing. And it was a little mean of them to make fun of me. But, kids will be kids, there's no changing that until they become teens, which in some respects is worse. Then there's no changing that until their adults, and to adults becoming one is better but to kids it is an unspeakable lowering and increasing of terribleness. No changing it until you become an elderly, and that's great because all you do is relax and visit, and the only bad side is when you are slow and can't play. And there's no changing that until... well, I think you know.
A repair man came by, as our hot water was acting up once more. So we had fixed it like three times now. More to come.
A good thirty minutes after I had an idea to play like we were wild west people in a saloon. Jonathan, Christopher and I did it alone until the girls joined us. Rebecca was my wife, and I was the Sheriff. Melanie was Christopher's wife, and he was the doctor. And Jonathan was the young deputy, and Amy was an entertainer. I pretended like I knew everybody at the bar counter, asking about the epidemic of the doctor and giving my young learning deputy tips, also other things. I pretended to go off and leave responsibilty of the deputy, saying I had to go get a horse-theif. I told him to be calm, and to shoot on sight a bravado coming in trying to rob the place, and to trust on his instincts. Then I changed characters to becoming the bartendar, and served out different whiskies. Christopher was waving his gun around a lot, and saying he would shoot people and such. We stopped the game multiple times to tell him that he was a DOCTOR, and healed the sick and such and didn't talk about making people hurt. I mean we knew that in the western time doctors had guns, but they weren't so waving them about. I as the bartendar told him to put his firearm at the door, all save the deputy, for obivous reasons enough. But he kept getting it back when we told him to put it back, reaching for it. He eventually spun an alibi that his grandfather gave it to him and he liked having it close. Oh for the love of pete.
We said fine as long as he emptied the cartridges, and I didn't want anyone with a gun in my bar. Then after seeing Amy do a little macroni, with Rebecca too, we talked some more and then I shifted parts once more, and entered as a bravado, and ran over and said to hold him up. I shot at the doctor, because he looked like a sheriff, because of him waving his gun. He dropped down, but not dead. And then Jonathan, with the advantage on me, drew his gun. I went behind a column. Then I shot back, and a fight ensued as all the girls ran out. Jonathan eventually shot at my chest as I fell over, still alive and saying I gave up. Then we did a scene of me being tied up on a bed in jail, and asking the deputy when my trial was. I then became the sheriff, telling the deputy what he did great and what he needed to improve on. I tried to escape as the bad guy, but at that time Rebecca told me we were about to go to eat dinner with Dad's uncle or something. The game was stopped. I said goodbye to Jonathan, as I got in the jeep, and got "To Kill a Mockingbird" as we drove away. We told the kids we probably wouldn't be back 'til dark. We drove all the way to Destin, with all of it's hotels and condos, and the beach houses and surf stores, and all the tourists!
I took sight of the Gulf of Mexico, with it's glittering blue waters setting off a ray of sunshine, like it was reflecting the perfect blue sky. We parked in the parking lot of a seafood restaurant , with a trees and the beaches and the big hotels with balconies all around. Out in the parking lot I saw a black haired lady, with a country accent, who Mom and Dad hugged. She is Delaine, the wife of Dad's uncle Stanley. I had seen her some in the past, at reunions and such. Stanley later joined us, and he was white hair, and is in his 60's, with a round head and kind of banged hair. He was nice, saying hello to us after the long parting.We went into it, and saw it on stilts. Inside was a large roofed area, with stage and bar to the front and some other things in this mostly vacant entrance. Concrete floor. Restroom on far left. We went to the right, a waiter ahead of us, and put us at a long table looking out at the beach and ocean, with the sandbar right in front and the sailboats passing through. Dad said he and Uncle Andy went through the opening of the beach and sandbar. We sat down and talked a little, and about how they came down here, because of the economy and how they liked the area and wanted to have a fun place to be. Made sense.
A different guy, with glasses and black hair, sunglasses that is, a cool dude, ordered our drinks. Water for Rebecca and I, Miller Light for Dad, and Mom had a blue moon or something. I don't remember what Stanley and them had. Well, I talked to Delaine a lot, about the menu, traveling, and different things. Even the book "To Kill a Mockingbird was a part of the conversation. She liked that book. Rebecca was pretty silent, on her phone. It was a while before yet another waitress came around, and took our order. I had a fish tacos platter, while Mom and Delaine and Stanley all had salads. Dad had nachos. Stanley told me about how he and my granddad went fishing and hunting in like Iowa and North Dakota and the Northwest, and how he knew like everybody every where and met people and later would send them Christmas presents every year. It was kind of how I keep up with people I've met, like the Lauren girl from Maine, the Penny Family, Tristan from Boston, and Brandon from Canada. Those are all great stories. But I liked talking to Stan and Delaine. Good to talk to and nice, as we looked at the sun bursting into our eyes and the beautiful orange and red sunset disappearing slowly into nothingness. We ate our meals, and personally mine was good. There were loud and drunk ladies on the next table over, but luckily two over, just one wasn't occupied. Dang were they annoying. And the service was slow, and the food was alright. Very slow.
After we ate we stayed around a little, and then went to the restroom and left. There was a tree with hanging light sticks, which made off a cool glow. Delaine and I tried to figure how they did it. She also told me how she held me as a baby and stuff like that. Then they all came out and we parted, saying goodbye and we wished to see each other again soon, and things like that. They are very nice people. Stanley told me quite a few stories about Grandpa, and Delaine was nice and good to talk to. We separated, and I got in the car with some questions to ask Mom about photography. And we drove back on the long drive, seeing condoes and hotels as it turned dark. Back at home we just went straight to bed. I had a fun time playing and loved seeing Stan and Delaine. Nice people. I'll look forward to seeing you two again.
The next day, however, would have coughing congregations, freaky food at Nick's, and something you'll have to read... to believe. Goodbye for now.
The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page-
Andrew.
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