Paperback
-
PICK UP IN STORECheck Availability at Nearby Stores
Available within 2 business hours
Related collections and offers
Overview
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781481746748 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | AuthorHouse |
| Publication date: | 05/03/2013 |
| Pages: | 112 |
| Product dimensions: | 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.27(d) |
| Age Range: | 11 - 17 Years |
Read an Excerpt
WE'RE DOING WHAT FOR SUMMER VACATION?
By CINDY DAVIS, ALI ROLLASON
AuthorHouse
Copyright © 2013 Cindy Davis and Ali RollasonAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4817-4674-8
CHAPTER 1
My Not-So-Normal Life
I would like to say that today was just another typical day in my life, but wrong. "Typical" just doesn't cover it today. I'm a normal nine-year-old girl named Ali, with a fairly normal twelve-year-old big brother, Zak. We both play soccer and basketball. We assumed that we were going to spend the summer at the lake or going to the beach in Florida with our friends.
Although we are normal kids, I can't really say that our parents are normal. They look like normal parents, but they are really former backpacking hippie people who think we need to see the world and experience unknown "adventures." I think a summer vacation at the beach in Florida is adventurous enough for me! Their hippie life started long before they had my brother and me. They met in some weird place called Tioman Island in Malaysia when they were both backpacking for years in Southeast Asia. My mom is American, and my dad is English. They try to act like ordinary parents, but I know that they are really very different from most of my friends' parents.
Today, I was outside playing on my trampoline, and Zak was playing Xbox in his room when Mom called us into the kitchen for a family meeting. I wondered what was so important that we needed to have a family meeting. These meetings usually mean that we need to talk about something important or make a major family decision. We all gathered around the kitchen table, and Mom announced, "We are going to spend a month in Borneo this summer."
I said, "What? Borneo?"
My brother said, "Where is Borneo?"
Dad explained that Borneo was a big island near Malaysia and Indonesia. Of course, I had no clue where those places were either. They could have told me we were going to the moon because I was clueless. All that I could think about was not getting to play with my friends, go the lake, or go to the beach!
Zak seemed to understand what was happening a bit better, because he had been to Hong Kong several years ago, with Mom. Zak asked, "Will it be like Hong Kong?"
Mom said, "It is the same part of the world, but it will be very different."
Dad laughed and said, "Borneo is where headhunters come from, and the orangutans."
"Great!" I said in my really sarcastic voice.
Mom was so excited and said that it would be a great summer adventure. Zak seemed to be a little bit excited about the trip, but I was not at all looking forward to this so-called adventure! I just wanted to be a normal kid with a normal family. Was that too much to ask for in life?
After realizing that this big adventure was really going to happen, I decided that I needed to find out a little information about this so-called Borneo place. I looked on my globe, but I didn't see any place named Borneo. I found England and Florida (where I really wanted to go this summer). Since the globe didn't help, I thought school was a good place to get some answers.
The next day, I asked my third-grade teacher, Mrs. Miles, if I could go to the library. She said, "Okay," because she loves for us to read books.
I walked down the hall to the library and asked the librarian, "Do you have any books on Borneo?"
She said, "Where's Borneo?" When the librarian doesn't know where a place is, you are in big trouble, because librarians are super smart people and know all the books! I took this as a very bad sign.
I soon realized that nobody knows where this Borneo place is. Every time I would tell someone that I was going to spend my summer in Borneo, they would say, "Where's Borneo?" I even heard people ask Mom and Dad that same question when they would talk about Borneo. Why in the world do my parents want to take us to someplace that nobody even knows about? Maybe nobody goes to Borneo because of those headhunters that Dad told us about! This was not sounding like a fun trip.
CHAPTER 2
Help! I Have To Get Shots
About a month before we had to leave, Mom told me that we had to do a few things to get ready for our big trip. I instantly thought of shopping! Oh, we would go to the mall and I could get new clothes and new shoes and maybe even a new bathing suit. This sounded like something I was going to love, and I would need lots of stuff for my stay in Borneo. I planned to take lots of new clothes and stuff to last me an entire month!
Unfortunately, shopping was not what Mom had in mind. She announced, "We have to go to a special doctor to get some important shots and malaria pills for our trip."
I said, "What? Shots? I don't do shots! I hate shots! Why do I have to get shots to go on this stupid trip?"
Mom tried to explain that she had to get lots of shots when she went to Africa, but this was not making me feel any better. I then asked, "What the heck is malaria?" Well, apparently it is some very weird disease carried by mosquitoes that can make you really sick and kill you.
Okay, excuse me for asking again, but why are we going to this place no one has heard of with strange diseases and killer mosquitoes? I bet my friends going to the beach in Florida do not have to get shots or worry about killer mosquitoes.
The day we had our appointment at the "travel clinic," my brother and I were both a little cranky. Summer vacation was not supposed to involve shots! Mom, Zak, and I all went back to talk to the doctor together. He asked who wanted to go first. I said, "I'll go first because I want to get this over ASAP!" I had to have two shots—one in each arm. It was a very big needle, and it really did hurt, but not as much I expected.
It was my brother's turn next. Zak asked, "Ali, did it hurt?"
I said, "It was worst pain ever!" just to scare him. He hates shots too.
Mom went last and her needles were even bigger than ours. She had to have three shots, but she acted really brave.
The doctor also talked to us about not drinking the water and wearing lots of mosquito spray and staying close to our family. The only good news was that he said that it is fine to drink Coca-Cola out of the bottle. This sounded really great, because my mom almost never lets me have Coca-Cola. Maybe Borneo will be filled with lots of Coca-Cola and other things that I'm not suppose to drink at home.
About a week before we left, Mom told me that I needed to pack for Borneo. She said, "Each of us can only take one small bag, because we will be moving around a lot in Borneo."
I told her, "I can't get clothes for a month in one small bag. I like to wear different color flip flops with all my cool outfits." She also told me to pack one long skirt or dress because Borneo is a Muslim country. I thought that sounded really cool, because I knew they wore the long dresses with scarves around their heads. I wondered if I would need to dress like that in Borneo too. I found a very cute long dress to pack, but I couldn't fit the cute shoes that matched into my bag.
Although we didn't have much room in our bags, Mom said that it was important that we take stuff to help the poor people. We decided to collect soccer jerseys from our soccer teams, because everyone in the world loves to play soccer. Mom told me that I had to stuff as many soccer shirts as possible into my one and only bag. This was not easy, because I wanted to carry my cute flip-flops too. Mom said, "Oh, and don't forget to pack your sleeping bag too."
"OMG ... Are we going to have to camp?" I asked. I was planning on a fancy hotel with those little shampoos and chocolates on my pillow.
CHAPTER 3
The Longest Flight Ever
We finally got all packed and ready to go. The worst part about leaving was saying goodbye to my three dogs: Spike, my little English Bulldog puppy; Malika, my Lab, named after an Aboriginal boy we met when we went to Australia; and Butch, my old Akita dog that watches after me. My grandma was keeping my dogs, because she has two dogs too, and she lives on a lake, on a farm. The dogs love staying with her, but I was really sad to leave them. My dogs looked really sad when I kissed them bye at 6:00 in the morning, but Spike, the bulldog, always has a really sad face, even when he is happy.
We got breakfast at a little market and headed to the airport in Nashville. I hate to fly! I am just not an airplane kind of person. I know why this happened. When I was about five years old, we were skiing in Colorado, and we had to take this little tiny plane back to Denver. It was a really, really snowy day and a snowstorm came through the mountains. It was the worst flight ever! The plane was bouncing up and down, and everyone was getting sick. I was so scared that I starting crying and having a panic attack. I wanted off that plane so bad. The flight attendants even looked scared, and they are supposed to be calm. My parents kept telling me that everything was going to be all right, but I didn't believe them. Parents always say that kind of stuff. When we got off that flight, I decided from that moment on that I hated to fly! I started making a fear list, and flying was on the top of the list!
So, needless to say, I was not excited about flying all the way to Borneo. Dad told us that we would be flying for about two days. I said, "We could be at the beach in Florida in just a few hours by driving in the car!" Mom and Dad gave me one of those looks that parents give kids when they are not being very cooperative.
Our first flight was to Los Angeles. I had been to California lots of times, because my Uncle Robbie and Aunt Allison live in San Diego. I love visiting San Diego. I bet it would be more fun to spend a month in San Diego than in Borneo! It was a really long flight to California. It took us nearly five hours to get to California, because we had to stop in Texas. When we arrived in Los Angeles, we had to push all our bags to the international terminal and check into a different terminal. It took a long time to get through security. We had to show our passports and be very serious when going through all the security screenings. The policemen made us take off our shoes and go through this machine that looked like a space ship tunnel. I was so afraid that I would do something wrong and get arrested by the police. When I was standing in the security line, I noticed people talking in all kinds of different languages. I couldn't understand what most of the people were saying. Dad told me that some people were speaking French, some were speaking Spanish, and another group was speaking German. Being from England, he knows more about languages than the rest of us in the family.
We didn't have very much time to make our flight, but we were all hungry. I told my family that we should go straight to the plane, but they insisted on stopping at a little cafe to get a quick bite to eat. We ate fast and then got to our plane. They should have listened to me, because people were already lining up to board the plane when we got to the gate. As we were standing in line, my mom asked Zak, "Where is your backpack?"
He looked around and said, "I must have left it in the little cafe!" This was really bad news, because his backpack had all his cool stuff, like his iPad, iPhone, and those awesome Dr. Dre Beats headphones that I really want.
Mom said, "I will quickly run back to the café to see if I can find it." I was very nervous, because I just knew that she was going to miss the fight. I was not going to Borneo for a month without my mom! It seemed like forever until she returned, but then I saw her running toward us, carrying Zak's backpack. Wow, that was really lucky!
As soon as Mom got back, we boarded the plane. We were flying on Singapore Airlines, and Dad said that it was one of the nicest airlines in the world. It was the biggest plane that I had ever seen. It had an upstairs area for people to sit, and the really rich people could stay in first class, which had little suites with their own beds. I asked my parents if we could stay in the suites, but they said that it was way too expensive for us. Maybe one day when I get really famous, I will get to stay in one of those suites.
On the plane, we had an entire middle row of four seats for our family. Every seat had its own TV screen and remote control. It was the coolest plane ever! The flight attendants gave us a little bag with a toothbrush, toothpaste, and socks. Before we took off, the flight attendant also gave everyone a very hot washrag. I had no idea what to do with it, but I saw my dad washing his face. I'm not sure why they wanted us to wash our faces with a hot rag before we started the flight, but I just did it anyway. Everybody on the plane was washing their face.
The flight from Los Angeles to Japan was twelve hours. I was very nervous when the plane took off, and I held my mom's hand for good luck. We always hold hands on planes during the takeoff and landing for good luck. If the plane crashes, I definitely want to be holding Mom's hand. Everything seemed to be going fine until I heard a loud banging noise coming from the bottom of the plane. That was it ... I knew we were going to crash! This loud banging continued for about ten minutes. It sounded like the bottom was falling out of the plane. I looked at the flight attendants, and they looked scared too. I knew this was a really bad sign. I started to cry and get very anxious. I looked at Mom and said, "Get me off this plane right now!"
She spoke to me in her "calm voice" and said, "Ali, it will be okay; just try to relax. If something is wrong, they will just turn the plane around and take us back to LA."
"If they turn the plane around, I am never getting back on it again," I said. My mom used to be a therapist before she became a professor, so she is really good at using her calm voice and dealing with scared people. Sometimes she tells me to just close my eyes and think about being at the beach or somewhere really fun, but none of that was working this time. I heard a big bang, and I knew we were going to crash any minute!
Finally, the pilot came on the loudspeaker and said, "The landing wheels fell down but we have reset the system and everything is now okay."
Well, I was not so sure about that. "If the wheels aren't working right, what the heck is going to happen when we try to land in Japan?" I said. This was not a very good sign. Mom told me not to worry, because the pilot had everything under control. I may only be nine years old, but I know when things are not right!
The rest of the flight was pretty smooth. Luckily, the flight had some of my favorite shows. I watched Good Luck Charlie, Wipeout, and a few movies to take my mind off worrying about the plane not having any wheels to land on in Japan. They also fed us dinner on the plane and gave us Ben & Jerry's ice cream for dessert. I tried to sleep on the plane, but Zak took up most of the room. He always seems to get the good spot first, and then I had to lay my head on top of him. It was really hard to sleep and get comfortable in the plane seats. It seemed like forever until we landed in Japan.
We got off the plane in Japan and just walked around. We only had about an hour before our next flight. I looked in the snack shop, but all the snacks were really weird with strange writing. I did find a little can of sour-cream-and-onion Pringles, so I got that for my snack. I went to the bathroom; Japan has the coolest toilets ever! The toilets had all these really cool buttons that looked like a TV remote control. One button shot water up your bottom, one button blow-dried your bottom, and another button spayed deodorant on your bottom. I wish we had these high-tech toilets at our home in America.
Our next flight, to Singapore, was seven hours. We got back in our same seats. The flight attendants brought us another hot rag, so I washed my face again. I still do not get the need for cleaning your face, but it did feel kind of good. I was extremely tired when the plane took off, and I was a little nervous about the plane wheels having problems again. Thank goodness, the plane did fine this time, but I still held my mom's hand for good luck.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from WE'RE DOING WHAT FOR SUMMER VACATION? by CINDY DAVIS, ALI ROLLASON. Copyright © 2013 Cindy Davis and Ali Rollason. Excerpted by permission of AuthorHouse.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
Contents
Preface.................... ix
Chapter 1: My Not-So-Normal Life.................... 1
Chapter 2: Help! I Have To Get Shots.................... 5
Chapter 3: The Longest Flight Ever.................... 9
Chapter 4: Things Are Different.................... 19
Chapter 5: Bedbugs.................... 25
Chapter 6: Sea Creatures.................... 30
Chapter 7: Everyone Was Muslim.................... 36
Chapter 8: Living in a Tree House.................... 43
Chapter 9: Jungle River Safari.................... 50
Chapter 10: The Worst Day Ever.................... 56
Chapter 11: The Island of Children.................... 62
Chapter 12: Underwater Life.................... 68
Chapter 13: Sleepover with the Locals.................... 74
Chapter 14: OMG—Leeches!.................... 79
Chapter 15: Hot Springs.................... 89
Chapter 16: Home.................... 93
About the Authors.................... 101