Grandma Lu Goes On Vacation

When Grandma Lu went home from Marleewood she sat down in her easy chair and started thinking about Maddie and Marlee putting pictures in a bottle. "I wonder where that bottle will end up? Hopefully, Sandy remembered to take it with her to the beach on their vacation. Oh my, what shall I do with myself? It seems everyone has something fun to do but me." About that time Grandma Lu's husband walked into the living room and saw her staring out the window. "What's wrong? Are you okay?"
Grandma Lu said, "Well, I'm just feeling a little sorry for myself. I think I need something fun to do."
Grandma Lu noticed that he had something in his hand. "What have you got there? Some interesting mail, I hope."

 Her husband grinned and said, "I think this will be right up your alley. It's an invitation to a Pirate Parade from an old friend of mine. It's in Florida. Would you like to go?"
"Are you kidding me? Of course, I want to go! Let's get our bags packed and get on the road." Her husband said, "No, I'll stay home and take care of the dogs. I need to help Mike split some wood anyway plus I have a lot of yard work to do after this hard winter. You go ahead and go and have a good time. You might even have an adventure or two."

It seemed like in just a few minutes his funny wife was in the car and on the road. "She didn't even wear a hat," he said to himself. "I think she needed a change. Hopefully, she will stay out of trouble; of course she won't." He just shook his head, grinned, and headed over to Mike's house.

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Out in California Chata was feeling very sorry for herself. No one was coming to her party. They all said that there was a human virus going around and they had to stay at home and take care of them in case they got sick. "After all the shopping I did, now I have to stay home. I hope my humom doesn't get sick. I'll just pick up a few things in case she does."

 

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The old pickup was just about to the Florida border. There was no one more glad than Jim, the Irish Setter. He was so big that he was squished by the lady hitchiker and she mumbled and grumbled at him the whole time they were on the road. "You are so big you are squishing me. How soon are we going to get there, anyway? I want to get a motel and take a shower. Being in a pickup with four dogs is about to get to me," said the lady.

Soon Jim told Cowboy to stop the pickup. He had to get out and stretch his legs. Everyone agreed so Cowboy pulled over and stopped. He could use a breather too. "Maybe this trip wasn't a good idea. It has not turned out to be the beautiful vacation away from all the cold weather and snow that I had imagined that it would be," he growled softly to himself.

The lady hitchiker called to all the dogs, "Hurry up. I want to get to the ocean and the sun. I love to swim in the ocean. I just can't hardly wait. Everyone agreed but Jim. Jim was very quiet. He had a secret. He was afraid of the water. All of his ancestors had been champion swimmers and some had even won medals, but he was different. Jim was ashamed to admit it to the other dogs for fear of them making fun of him. So he just kept quiet and tried to get as far away from the lady as he could. He wanted to go home. Home where he was loved even if he was different....