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Travel Journal of Ben Hargreeves. Entry number 1 08/09/2003 09:20 am
We’re still at home, Mom said to pack my suitcase but I already did yesterday evening.
Mom’s probably going to look it over again, she still doesn’t trust me packing everything correctly. She only trusts Vanya really.
Which isn’t fair.
Vanya’s only a year older than me. I’m very much old enough to pack my own stuff.
I’m not like Luther and Diego who are too little to know what they’re going to need or Klaus and Allison who’d take too much toys and other silly things.
Or like Five who doesn’t care enough to pack his suitcase.
I’m twelve. I’m old enough for these things.
Anyways. I thought it would be good to have a travel journal. It’s like a diary but it is about our vacation on countryside.
Vanya is very excited because she’s going to see Sissy again who she met two years ago when we went there the first time and who’s Vanya pen pal. That means they write each other letters and Vanya is very secretive about her letters. She never tells us what Sissy wrote her.
This year I want to find a pen pal for myself.
Anyway Mom’s yelling for me so I gotta go. I’ll write more later.
“We’re going to take a longer stop at the next roadhouse and then it’s only one and a half hours left!” Mom said and smiled widely. They’d been on the road for hours and Diego and Luther were getting whiny in the backseat of their family bus demanding to stop so they could pee for the thirteenth time and saying that they were hungry.
Ben nodded and sighed leaning back. At least there he’d be able to read his book soon, he always got sick when he tried to read in the car.
“Ben, Ben, Ben, Ben, Ben,” Klaus made it clear that he wasn’t giving up.
“What?”
“What’re you reading?”
“A book,” Ben said and sighed. He was just getting to an interesting bit.
“What’s it about?” Klaus asked.
“It’s a thriller,” Ben said nonchalantly. “A boy kills his little brother because he annoys him so much he doesn’t get to get to the good part in his book.”
“Really?” Luther asked, fries falling out of his mouth.
“No,” Vanya said and tried to cut some of his stake for him. “Ben’s just trying to scare Klaus into leaving him alone.”
“Oh,” Luther looked not entirely convinced. “I got a book too!” he said then happily. “It’s about space.”
“N-nn-nobody asked,” Diego commented. “And y-you cuh-can’t even r-read.”
“But I’ll learn next year!” Luther yelled and glared at Diego.
Diego snickered and looked away.
“What’s your book actually about Ben?” Allison asked him, she had been eyeing the cover with some interest. Allison who had just completed second grade had actually started reading books that year with the same seriousness she did most things. She had recently started a purple series that glittered in the right light and had been very disappointed when Ben had told her that he wasn’t going to read it with her when she tried to get him into it by describing the plot, something about fairies.
“It’s about dragons and fantasy and adventure,” Ben said.
“Can I read it when you’re done?” Allison asked.
“Can you read it to me, Ally?” Luther asked chewing.
“Sure! Like the fairy princess books.”
“I like the Moon fairy best,” Luther said nodding.
“Uh, I don’t think it’s for Luther,” Ben said thinking about the fight scene he had just read . It was probably not for Allison either. “You’re too little.”
“I’m noooot!” Luther said and shook his head fast and jumped up from the chair running to their mother who was just coming from the bathroom. “Mooom!”
Ben looked over at Vanya who just shrugged.
“B-baby,” Diego commented and adjusted the fries on his plate in formation of a smiley face.
Travel Journal of Ben Hargreeves Entry number 2 08/09/2003 03:24 pm
Sometimes I hate my family.
Luther told Mom I was mean to him about the book which I wasn’t and then I had to explain to her how the book isn’t for her and now Mom took it away from me because she thinks it’s not for me either. But it is!
Stupid Luther.
Stupid Allison she asked to read it in the first place.
And stupid Klaus for annoying me the little ones would never even noticed my book.
Mom’s the most stupid. She can’t just take my book away from me when I’m at an interesting part!!
She wouldn’t do it if I was Vanya. Nobody ever cares what Vanya does.
Aside from Luther and Five everyone was awake when they reached their destination this time.
Ben shook Five awake carefully. “Why are you so sleepy today?” he asked his brother quietly.
“Dunno,” Five mumbled and rubbed at his eyes. “Just tired, is all…”
“Didn’t you sleep?”
“Ben, I’m fine,” Five said and jumped out of the car before Ben could ask anymore questions.
Ben sighed. Five sometimes forgot time. And as his older brother Ben should probably look after him better, at least make sure that he was sleeping.
“Well, let’s all check out our nice little cottage,” Mom said as she put Luther who was still sleepily rubbing at his eyes onto his feet. “Vanya, Ben make sure none of the little ones runs off.”
“Yes, Mom,” Vanya said and took Allison’s hand. She was looking around though distracted and Ben knew that she was looking for Sissy her pen pal.
Ben grabbed for Klaus and took his hand.
“I’m ten, Benji, you don’t have to hold my hand anymore!” he said and made a face.
“You’re also dumb,” Ben gave back and shook his head. “And you run off.”
“I don’t!” Klaus said and made a face. “I don’t run off.”
Ben rolled his eyes but was glad to see that Mom was handling Diego and Luther.
“When we’re all settled in we can get you ready for bed, Luther dear,” Mom said now.
“ ‘m not tired though,” Luther said and yawned loudly as he held onto his monkey toy. “Pogo isn’t either.”
Ben rolled his eyes. Since the book incident he’d been a lot less forgiving of his littlest brother. He knew he would eventually but for now he was just mad at him. With six Luther really could know better and stop being such a baby about stuff, Ben thought he was pretty sure he’d been a lot farther at that age.
He tried to be positive though now that they were finally there Ben could start looking for a pen pal.
Ben’s travel journal Entry 3 08/09/2003 09:46 pm
We’re there finally! Mom said to get settled in. I have to share a room with Klaus and Five but that’s not so bad. At least it’s not with stupid baby Luther. He’d tell on me right away when I get the book back.
Five’s very sleepy and I think he might be getting a fever? He never tells when he’s feeling bad. Mom would probably say it’s because he’s a middle child. Anything Five and Klaus do is because they’re middle children which doesn’t make any sense because Klaus usually tries to get lots of attention while Five tries to not have attention at all.
Mom’s been trying to call Dad to say we’re there no but Dad’s too busy working. I think she’s sad about it. It’s not nice to see Mom sad.
I don’t want to think so much about my family and how I can make them better!
I want to think about tomorrow and how I’ll start my search for a pen pal then! Mine will be even better than Sissy! So! Haha Vanya.
The next day Ben packed his backpack with everything he could think of that was necessary for finding a pen pal: a lunchbox in case he got hungry, his bottle filled with water in case he got thirsty, his journal, the disposable camera he had bought from his pocket money so he and his pen pal could shoot some fun pictures together, and some letter paper in case his pen pal went back home sooner than him so that they could write each other right away. He also made sure to have his watch with him and another book that he could read in case looking for a pen pal got boring.
“Beeehn?” came from the door and Ben turned around to see Luther standing there.
He huffed. “What do you want?”
“You wanna go horseback riding with me Mom and Allison?” Luther asked and looked at the door frame hands running over the wood. Ben was still mad enough at him to wish that he’d get a splinter.
“No, I have my own things to do,” Ben said.
“Oh… okay. Wait!” Luther ran off and came back a few seconds later out of breath holding something. “For you!”
“A juice pack?”
Luther nodded. “It’s good. I had one for breakfast and Mom put mine and Diego’s in the fridge for when we have dinner. But I want you to have mine now.”
Ben frowned. “Why?”
“So you’re not mad anymore,” Luther mumbled. “I’m sorry, Ben.”
Ben sighed deeply but took the offered juice box. “It’s fine,” he said and ruffled Luther’s hair. “Have fun horseback riding.”
Luther made a face wrinkling his nosed. “Won’t. Horses smell. I’d rather go to look at the chicken.”
“Chicken don’t smell?”
“No, they just smell good,” Luther argued. “And they aren’t as big. But it’s fine Allison wants to do horseback riding,” he said gracefully. “And I’ll look at the chicken later.”
And then Luther ran off and Ben sighed. Fine. Luther had wriggled himself back into forgiveness and it hadn’t even been a full day. He had no idea how he worked that out every time.
Travel Journal of Ben Hargreeves Entry Number 4 08/10/2003 01:15 pm
I’ve been looking for a Pen Pal for an hour and I haven’t found one so far.
Most kids on vacation here are more around Allison’s, Diego’s and Luther’s age than mine. Which is frustrating. If I wanted little kids in overalls and rainboots I could have stayed at home.
Mom said we’re supposed to stay close to the farm and the house we’re staying in and technically I am, I’m just in the forest, she hasn’t forbidden us from going there yet. SO!
I had the juice Luther gave me and a sandwich. I don’t want to stop looking but I know Mom and the little ones are going to be back soon and then she’ll want to make sure we’re still around and
“Are you writing a book?”
Ben almost let his journal slip when he heard that question.
He looked up from where he was sitting on the tree stump and looked at a girl around his age who was starring at him.
“No… I mean, yes! I mean sorta!” Ben said and hurried to close his book cursing himself because the ink wasn’t dried yet. “It’s just… my travel journal. That’s what like… explorers and stuff had always.
“You’re not an explorer though,” the girl observed raising her nose.
Ben felt a bit annoyed. “I mean no, but it’s still good to write things down.”
“Why?”
“So when something interesting happens I’ll remember it better.”
“Hm…” the girl walked over to him and set down on the ground next to him. “I like reading books a lot more than writing.”
Ben stopped for a second. “I love reading too,” he said and looked at his sneakers.
“I’m Jill,” the girl said. “I’m here cause my parents are getting divorced.”
“Oh, that sucks,” Ben said and thought of his own parents. Sometimes he wished Mom would divorce Dad and take them all to a nicer place. But that would probably be an insensitive thing to say. “I’m Ben, I’m just here because I have 6 siblings and my parents want a place where we all can be busy and my Mom doesn’t like sending the babies into summer camp so none of us can go.”
“It’s fine,” Jill told him. “I’m not sad about it. But six siblings??”
“Yes,” Ben nodded. He always felt weird when other kids got confused by their family. “We’re all adopted too.”
Jill looked at him. “No wonder you’re keeping journal your life already sounds like a book!”
That made Ben blush for some reason. “It’s really not… it’s pretty boring most of the time…” and then before he could stop himself. “Hey, do you know what a pen pal is?”