Tiger in Trouble Read Free Page A

nothing’s going to happen to me. There’s a hospital on the main island and —”
    “I mean to us!” he said. “If there’s no phone, how can we get in touch with you if something happens to us? It isn’t like we can get hold of Dad!”
    Mom scowled. It was that look she almost always had when Dad was mentioned. Of course we couldn’t get in touch with him, because his whereabouts kept changing. Ever since he left us he’d been living out of suitcases, travelling across the country and around the world. He’d always wanted to be a photographer instead of a businessman, and for the past year that’s what he’d been doing. And, like where my mother was going, a whole lot of places where he travelled were so far “off the grid” that there wasn’t even cell phone reception.
    “You’ll be fine,” Mom said reassuringly. “If you really need to get me, they can always send a boat over from the big island. I’ll give you a number to reach me that way. I’ve already spoken to your Aunt Elaine, and she’s agreed to be your emergency contact. There’s nothing to worry about.”
    I wanted to say something, ask something, comment, question, protest or complain but, of course, there was nothing I could or should say.
    “That’s great,” I finally mumbled, trying my best to sound enthusiastic.
    “How long have you known about this trip?” Nick asked. That was a good question, something that I was wondering, too.
    “I’ve been thinking about it for a few days, but it didn’t all fall into place until this morning. I guess I could have called, but I wanted to tell you in person.”
    I believed what she was saying, but it still felt as if this had all been sprung on us, that she sort of snuck up with this plan so we wouldn’t have a chance to protest. But, really, what right did we have to protest? She deserved a break, too.
    “I think that right after supper we should clean up the kitchen, pack our bags and get a good night’s sleep,” my mother suggested. “We have to be up very early tomorrow to get to the airport, and I think I’m so excited that I’m going to have a lot of trouble getting to sleep tonight.”
    I couldn’t argue with what she was saying. I knew I’d have a whole lot of difficulty getting to sleep myself. Excitement had nothing to do with it in my case, though.
    “Since I made supper, you two should clean up the kitchen,” Mom said.
    “Made supper!” Nick protested. “You only carried it through the door!”
    “Yes, but I made the money that bought the supper,” she said with a laugh. “Besides, while you’re cleaning up I’ll go down to the basement and get out our luggage … unless one of you two would like to do that?”
    “Not me!” I cried, holding up my hands. “The kitchen sounds just fine to me. Come on, Nick, give me a hand.”
    He got up from his chair. “Okay, what do you want me to do?”
    I shook my head. “Figure it out, Nick. This isn’t brain surgery. Start off by closing the little cartons. We’ll bring them over to Mr. McCurdy tonight. There’s no point in leaving leftover Chinese food here for a week. It’ll be bad before we get back,” I explained. “I guess he was wrong … he will end up sharing our supper.”
    “I think that’s the only thing he was wrong about,” Nick said as he started doing what I’d told him. “It sounds like Mom isn’t going to miss us that much.”
    “Everybody needs a break, and we’ll be back soon enough,” I offered, as I put the plates into the soap-filled sink.
    “I just hope it’ll be soon enough.”
    “What do you mean by that?”
    “I mean it’s hard to be away from people for that long … I just hope they don’t change the way they feel, that’s all.”
    “Nick, you are totally insane! We’re only going away for a week, and Mom will still feel exactly the same way about us!”
    “I wasn’t talking about Mom,” he said softly.
    “Then who?”
    “My