My Vacation Turned Sour Emily Wearing my brand new blue dress with my last clean white shirt, I felt like a princess. The weather was warm and sunny and the temperature was perfect. The sun was warming my arms and face. I was wandering around, trying to figure out what to do next. On the plane ride to California I had made a list of all the things I wanted to do: 1. Go swimming 2. Eat some ice cream 3. Go on a roller coaster 4. Build stuff 5. Go on the teacups 6. Drive a car 7. Go on Dumbo So far, my list looked like this.
After looking it over I realized that there was only one thing left to do: “Drive a car”. We stepped into the line, with my mom in the front to pay for my ride. I felt like a true princess coming to take her throne. Ever since being in a car I had wanted to drive one, and now at age 6 in Legoland for the first time I had my chance! “Are we almost at the end?” “No Emily, just a few more minutes.” “How many exactly?” “A few.” “How many is a few?” “Emily sweetie, I don’t know how long the line is going to be, ok? We are just going to have to wait if you want to drive the cars”. At this point I started to get worried. Thoughts were flashing through my head at a thousand miles per hour. What if we didn’t make it in time? What if the ride broke? What if we got kicked out and were never allowed to come back to this ride? My mom noticed my anxious face. She assured me that we were almost at the end of the line, and that I would get my turn. We did have two more days after all, so I stared at sign and waited. And waited.
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COME DRIVE A LEGO CAR!
* * * “C’mon Emily, it’s your turn!” my mother said while taking out her new camera. I awoke from my trance to find us standing at the front of the line! I ran up to the man giving instructions. I listened as best I could trying to keep my eyes from wandering to the parking lot full of the mini Lego cars that were screaming for my attention. I studied the ride attendant as he rattled off more instructions. The first thing that I noticed was how skinny and pale he was. He was looking at the children around me with a face of contempt. He immediately reminded me of Captain Hook from the movie I had watched on the drive from the airport. Captain Hook was always cranky and yelling at his crew. Why on earth would someone be grumpy when he got to spend all his time around cars built with Legos? I was still trying to comprehend how someone can look so mean but those thoughts were interrupted as I tuned in for the most important thing our attendant had to say. “You may now choose the car you want to drive.” It was like the shotgun had been fired to start a race. Suddenly everyone was sprinting off to the starting line. I searched desperately for the ideal car angry with myself for not deciding sooner which car I wanted. There it was. The one I wanted. I ran over as fast as I could and jumped in the car. Up close, I realized that this was the best car in the lot. This red racecar made of Legos with black and yellow fire decals on the side, was a perfect match to my emotions of excitement and power. I barely heard the grumpy man say that we could start our cars which I had already done. I tentatively tested the pedals to move my car forward. The racecar responded instantly, as if just waiting for me to push down the pedals and let it run free. As we drove down the streets in the town replica I felt a sense of euphoria. This was just what I had been waiting for, and I didn’t even turn to look at my parents in fear of this moment ending too soon. The racecar pushed me to go farther and farther into the small Lego world and explore the surrounding streets. There were Lego houses, Lego people, and even a Lego supermarket. I would pass other children in their own cars and feel superior in my awesome red fire racecar. I knew that soon the adventure would have to end which was probably what made me forget where I was going.
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Suddenly the street ended. It just stopped. There was no concrete to drive on and the curb was too tall. “WHAT SHOULD I DO?” I said to myself. That was my first thought and again many more thoughts followed. “Where am I?” “What if I got stuck here forever?” After thinking through the possibilities as much as I could at age six, I decided that I would just turn around. I now know these sorts of turns are referred to as a “U-‐Turn”. But at the time I didn’t know any better. With the turn behind me and the road open in front again, I heard a voice behind me. It was the grumpy attendant. “That’s illegal”, he muttered. I twisted around in the driver’s seat to find him leaning against the Lego lamppost. “In real life you would get a ticket from the police for like, $250 and if you didn’t pay it in time they would add like $10 every day it’s late.” I was speechless. I turned around, hoping to find that paradise I had been in just minutes ago. But now I felt dark and gloomy. The fire on my car looked dangerous and the Lego everything everywhere looked so fake.
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The grumpy attendant, that mean evil guy was looking at me with a smirk. The only thing that kept me from crying was the fact that I found my parents and grandparents waiting for me behind the empty, barren Lego parking lot. I jumped from my car and ran to my parents; angry at the mean attendant and the entire stupid ride. With my parents in front of me I quickly turned to look at my racecar one last time. The car looked sorry, almost as if it was trying to apologize for the evil man. As I looked forward again, I noticed a bumper car ride with kids laughing and screaming in delight on the worn seats of the cars. The colors bled back into the world the second I saw the orange car with puppies on the side. I eagerly looked to find the entrance so I could plan how I would drag my parents towards the ride so I could go on the bumper cars. I looked around and saw the bumper car attendant. She was smiling at the children while making sure they were staying safe, looking exactly like I would have expected for a person who got to work at Legoland. I stepped towards the ride, mesmerized by all the happy faces. I felt like I was about to become a queen from a princess. I was thinking only about 2 things. First was that I would do everything on my list and second, maybe my day in Legoland wouldn’t be so bad after all.
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