We met up with Danny and my folks in Texarkana, Arkansas. Technically, we beat them there as Dad kept the cruise control set to fifty-five. We had arrived there at 11:30 AM with the rest of the group pulling in an hour later. This gave us enough time to eat and refill our sodas quite a few times as we talked back and forth about our plan for the week. I’d spend some time with the family, perhaps a bit my sister-in-law and my niece and nephew but I really didn’t want to have too many discussions with Adam.

I was sure Adam still held a grudge on how he said he tried to talk some sense into me by throwing me into the snow, barely missing the bumper of the car as Dad pulled into the driveway. He explained to them that I needed therapy. He told them about camps that helped “people like me”. Mon and Dad did not go full throttle into him, at least not that I knew, as I had retreated to my room, locked the door, and took a glimpse at the fist-sized hole in the wall.

I had to wonder if a similar thing would happen during this trip. Oh, maybe I could be the one who places her fist through some plaster instead at something he was doing thar upset me,
“You got that face again,” Garrett noted.
“My doom and gloom face?”
“That’s the one.”
“Maybe we should go back home?”
“No, for three reasons. One, we’re already halfway there.”
“We’re like a quarter of the way there. You’ve never driven through Texas before.”
We would have to drive for six more hours to reach Adam’s town.
“Okay, two, you will regret it because Danny will hold it over you forever.”
“I can live with that.”
“And three. I would like to see what the state has to offer. We’ll do what you said and duck out of most of the facility outings.”
“Most?”
“It’s Christmas.”
“I’ll go with that,” I replied as my parents finally pulled into the parking lot.

Dad immediately got out of the SVU and did several deep knee bends along with stretching out his arms. I cringed at the show because he was also out of the car without a coat and it was very cold outside, hence why we stayed inside to wait. Danny helped Lena out and I could see she was not happy at all. I hoped it would be something that would pass before she walked inside. Unfortunately, it occurred while everyone was eating, as she got sick once again all over everyone’s lunch.

We continued on our trip with about six more hours of traveling which again meant cycling through the radio stations until I found a station playing Christmas music, all day til Christmas Day, per their station advertisement. Garrett threatened to turn the station a few times, but I slapped his hand when one song came on.

“Seth liked this.”
“‘You’re a mean one, Mr Grinch’?”
“Oh yeah, He had this Drill Sargent named Finch and he got everyone to march out the lyrics to this song but, replaced with ‘Finch’.”
“How many push-ups or KP days did Seth have to do?”
“Not many, they won some kind of camp contest because of it and, somehow, a patch was sent out everyone with a face of Finch on a green body.”
“And now, I’m going to be saying ‘you’re a mean one, Sargent Finch’ from now on.” Garrett replied with a sigh.
“Wait till I tell you about the changes he made to ‘Deck the Halls’.”