Chapter Three

The next week was spent in wild packing, finding lost socks, rechecking of library books, the indecision of which CDs to leave behind, various occasions of packing and repacking because Violet kept stuffing all her Barbie dolls into the suitcase her clothes were supposed to go in, and general mayhem. Mr. and Mrs. Grace helped all they could but for the most part, they let the siblings pack their own style.

"WHERE IS MY SWIMMING SUIT?" Violet shrilled one afternoon. The sun was baking the asphalt outside, birds were too sleepy to sing and ice cream dripped into the duck pond in the park. "Andy," Violet sang out, waltzing into their room, "do you know where Jake is? He's gone hiding again; I wish he was still so small I could pack him into my suitcase whenever we go somewhere!" The little girl's face was flushed from running in the heat and the blistering sunshine shone in through the half-open window. Andy, surrounded by T-shirts, gnawed pencils and baseball caps, looked up from his packing. "Nope," he said.

Violet threw her hands up in the air and growled. "Grr!" She turned on her heel and raced to her bed, grabbed a long piece of yarn, and ran back out.

"Deker, do you think I should take two sketch pads with a little paper, or one with a lot of paper?" Andy saw with a small shudder that Deker was untacking the grumpy dragon poster and folding it into his computer bag, which also doubled as a suitcase. "I suppose I'll just bring the one," Andy decided when his older brother bashed his head on the ceiling and muttered something.

Violet came running back in, bringing Jake the young dragon in on his yarn leash. "He was ON the ROOF!" she yelled. Jake was grinning ear to ear, panting from the heat.

Deker suddenly shouted something unintelligible and vaulted out of his bed and to the ground. He raced past Violet and Jake and into the kitchen. Andy heard a whoosh as the fridge door was opened and heard a familiar voice complaining.

"Why'd ya leave me in there, huh?" shouted Jules the Tomato. Deker sighed and slowly climbed up into his bed again to resume his packing, setting Jules on the headboard.

"WELL?" Jules demanded as Deker pulled a blue and purple flip-flop out from under his pillow. "Where did this come from?" he asked.

Violet giggled. "That's Andy's!" she screamed, and ran off to brush her teeth. No one quite understood why Violet insisted upon brushing her teeth in the middle of the afternoon, but it made her happy. Jake followed her, invisible to everyone except the three Graces.

"I've been looking for that for EVER!" Andy said, grabbing the flip-flop and ramming it onto his foot.

"I suppose that this little trip might delay your progress upon your novel, Author," said a voice. Deker turned around and saw Daimon, his knight.

"Hey, Daimon, how's it going?" Andy asked pleasantly, popping a stick of chewing gum into his mouth.

"It will be but a few days, Daimon," Deker answered and shoved his laptop bag closed. With a snarl he realized he'd forgotten to put the actual laptop into the bag and began prowling around for his bright orange book bag. "We will be working on our writings at grandma's, harbor no fear in your heart about that."

Mrs. Grace came in, her blond hair swept up into a ponytail, her cheeks red from the humidity. "Almost done packing?" she asked. Daimon leaned against the wall grinning at her back; only Andy and Deker could see him make a funny face at their mother. Deker grinned lopsidedly and Andy grimaced at the knight.

"I think we're all ready for Dad to drive us to grandma's tomorrow," Andy replied, setting his tennis shoes beside his things. "If we can fit everything into the car and get up on time, that is."

Mrs. Grace laughed and helped her sons to haul their junk into the living room. They set everything by the front door for the next morning. Mercifully, the neighbors downstairs just played several rounds of pool, no football games were coming on, so the three Graces managed to get some sleep.

Violet was strapped into the car way before anyone else.

"Honey, did you...you know..." Mrs. Grace said.

"Yeah, I did AGES ago, when are we gonna GO?" Violet wailed. "Hurry UP!"

Mr. Grace came out of the apartment building, nearly falling over under the weight of suitcases, book bags, Wal-Mart sacks of swimming suits and stacks and stacks of books.

"I hope you kids have a nice time this summer," Mrs. Grace said, giving Andy a hug.

"You two have a good time!" Andy replied, shoving Violet out of his seat by the window.

"But I WANNA SIT BY A WINDOW!" Violet snapped, jumping up and down against her seat belt.

"It's Andy's turn to sit by the window," Deker said, coming out of the building carrying his big pillow and laptop bag.

"Oh NO, I forgot my portable CD player!" Violet said frantically.

Mr. Grace sighed and looked pleadingly at his oldest son. Mrs. Grace laughed and made sure everything was securely stuffed into the trunk while Deker ran back to their room for the CD player.

When he came back, the sun was directly overhead and the Graces were several minutes behind. "When's lunch?" Violet demanded, taking the CD player and turning on the Spirit soundtrack.

"Are we all set?" asked Mr. Grace.

"MY KITTENS!" Andy suddenly yelped. He flew out the car, nearly plowing Deker down, and into the building. Mrs. Grace gave him one last peck on the cheek as he came out, carrying his fluffy pillow.

"They wouldn't get off of it," he whispered as he piled back into the car. Only Violet and Deker could see the wallowing puffs of black, white and orange fur on Andy's pillow.

Mr. Grace kissed his wife goodbye. "See you tonight," he said. Mrs. Grace nodded and waved as he got into the car. "You two obey your older brother," she shouted. A passerby turned to look curiously at the proverbial gypsy tea wagon preparing to depart, and at the thee Graces inside. Andy hid his face and Violet waved at them and tried to look cool.

"Are we almost there?" asked Violet as Mr. Grace grasped the steering wheel and moved to start the car.