A Literary Allusion

We're running errands, the three children and Mama strapped into the van and careening around town. We've returned an ill-fitting Land's End order to Sears, we've dropped the books in the drop box at the library, and we're patiently listening to Kathleen lecture about how children should not be left alone in cars. (This because Mama stepped out of the idling car to be able to reach the library drop box out the passenger window. Explaining that Mama could touch the car for the entire 20 seconds she wasn't sitting it did not suffice. The children were alone in a car, according to Kathleen. Let's hope she never has occasion to talk to, you know, Children and Family Services.) We should be headed home, because everyone's tired and cranky, but we're going to Costco instead, since we're out of fruit and milk and other staples at home.

Kathleen pauses in her diatribe just as we cruise onto the on-ramp for the highway. As the van takes the curve, the girls cry out in delighted unison, "WHEE!"

Mama chuckles, and the girls continue whee-ing until we're on the straight, flat highway.

"Are we going home?" Kathleen asks.

"No, darling, we're not. We've talked about this. We're going to Costco." Mama sighs, imagining a battle about the day's last errand. But when she looks in the mirror, Kathleen catches her eye and flashes a grin.

"But, Mama, if we were going home," she offers, "we could go "whee, whee, whee -- all the way home!"