Excerpt of The Vacation by Polly Horvath
(Page 3 of 3)
Printer Friendly Excerpt
"OW!" said Aunt Pigg, as much in amazement as anything
else.
"No more Coke for you, Pigg," said Aunt Magnolia,
not wasting anyone's time by apologizing. "It's a long
haul to the motel."
"Ow!" said Aunt Pigg again, making her way back to
the car.
I carefully found the coin return slot, retrieved the
dime, and pocketed it. As yet I had no plan to effect my
egress, but one never knew.
"In fact," said Aunt Magnolia, suddenly turning
around on her heel and marching back to the Coke machine,
"let's get back that dime." When it wasn't there after
she pushed the coin return button, she pushed it
several more times increasingly harder. Then she hit the
machine and kicked it. A man finally came out of the
museum and said, "Here, stop that."
"This machine ate my dime," said Aunt Magnolia.
"Machine clearly states Cokes cost a buck fifty," said
the man. "You can't get a Coke for a dime no more,
lady."
"Yes, I know that, you nincompoop," said Aunt Magnolia.
"I put a dime in and I changed my mind."
"How do I know that?" said the man. "How do I know
you're not out there just trying to cadge dimes off museum
owners? You wouldn't believe what we see in the
tourist trade."
"I want my dime," said Aunt Magnolia.
The man just turned around and went back into the museum. I felt like applauding. If he had given the dime
to Aunt Magnolia, I would, of course, have had to come
clean and return my dime
to him. So I was doubly happy
that he had not.
"Waste, Pigg. Waste, waste, waste," said Aunt Magnolia,
getting back into the car. She put a beach towel over
her head and said, "Drive."
It was a lovely first day on the road.
Excerpt from Vacation by Polly Horvath, pages 34-39. Copyright . 2005 by Polly
Horvath. Published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, LLC in 2005. All rights
reserved. Visitors to this web site are warned that this work is protected
under copyright laws and reproduction is strictly prohibited. Permission to
reproduce the material in any manner or medium must be secured from
Farrar, Straus and Giroux, LLC.
