Hotel Galvez

It was sometime in October when my mother broke the news to us at dinner. "We're spending a week in Galveston so your father and I can determine if we'll move there!" she said clasping her hands together. I shoot my father a glare, but he does not look up. Instead, he slurps his spaghetti loudly. My glare becomes more heated, daring him to look up. He slurps louder, getting marinara sauce all over his suit and tie. My glare turns into a look of disgust and my mother looks at him, eyebrow raised, and lips parted slightly. That is when my dad looks up because he can feel my mother's gaze.

"So where do you suppose we're staying? You can't possibly have us cooped up in that tiny RV for one week!" I say.

She looks at me and smiles her, Glad You Mentioned it, smile.

"Well honey, since you mentioned it, we booked the connected room at Hotel Galvez, you and Danny will take room 505 and your father and I will take 507." she says. A meatball drops out of my mouth and lands in my lap, making Bruce slowly approach me and eat it from my thigh.

"Wait but in the fifties, the fiancé of a seaman hung herself from the balcony of that room! She killed herself from the grief of losing her fiancé who came back two days later to the hotel and found out she was dead. Mother, I'm not going." I say, crossing my arms over my chest and slumping in my chair like Danny does when he cannot have a dessert.

On Saturday, I am angrily shoving clothes and toiletries in a suitcase and become even more agitated when the suitcase will not zip close.

Danny hangs in the doorway and I look up. "What?" I snarl.

He flinches. "I was wondering if you could help me pack. Mom and dad are busy." he says. From the way his voice sounds I could tell he is about to cry, and I feel bad. I open my arms and he runs to me and begins to sob.

"I don't want to move!" he wails in my shoulder. "I don't either and do you see me upset?" I ask. He nods. "You look so angry." he says. My face goes from nurturing older sister to neutral You got me There. I pick him up and carry him to his room across the hall, leaving my suitcase.

When I see what he wants to pack, my mouth drops. "You want to pack all this?" I ask. He looks at me with a sheepish look on his face.

"Well, let's start with clothes. You can grab a backpack if you want to pack your toys and comic books." I say. I start folding his clothes and begin neatly putting them in the sections of his suitcase. Pajamas in one section, trunks in another, and outfits in the last one. I put his socks and undies in the fishnet pocket underneath the lid and put his shoes in the side compartment. In the front pocket, I put his toothbrush, watermelon toothpaste, and his sunscreen inside and zip the zipper. He hands me his backpack and I carefully place his toys and comic books and zip it up.