Prologue
July 23, 1983
Dear Diary,
Well, Momma and I left on what she is calling an "adventure" today. She woke me up at 2 am by turning on the lights in my bedroom and throwing two big trash bags on my bed. She told me to fill one of the bags with all my best clothes and the other with all my favorite belongings. She told me I had five minutes. When I met her at the car she shoved my trash bags in the back of Old Blue and ran back into the trailer to grab some pillows and of course, her cigarettes. She came running out of the house and slammed the door behind her so hard that the wind chime Bud got her at the Stuckey's gift shop off of Route 10 last year fell and shattered all over the steps. I knew Momma was in a hurry cause she didn't even light up before backing out of our driveway. Momma raced through Ochobee Swamp Trailer Park and peeled out onto the main road before she even asked me to open a fresh carton of cigarettes.
I found it strange that Momma had a whole carton of cigarettes on her dashboard when payday was five days away. And Momma also had a full tank of gas when she always drives on "E". She says that Old Blue, our stationwagon, is a guzzler. Momma was driving really fast and looking in her mirrors like every 5 seconds. I knew by the way that Momma was acting that I shouldn't ask questions so I just snuggled into my pillow and slept until this morning. My guess is that she left Bud, again. Or those men who come visit us every so often looking for money, are trying to track Momma down again. Momma woke me about an hour ago when she pulled into a gas station that I had never seen before. After filling Old Blue she pulled her around back out of view of the highway. She instructed me to get out of the car and grabbed my hand as she drug me into the gas station to pay for the gas. Once we was inside the store she let me get a slushee and any snack I wanted. Normally,Momma says she doesn't have money for no snack or one of those "slushee thingys". When I brought my slushee to the counter and handed the gas station man my fruit pie I saw Momma pull a big wad of money out of her bra. She smiled at the gas station man as she handed him the money for our gas and snacks and told him to have a nice day. Now Momma never smiles but she does cry a lot. Momma sure is acting weird. The only time she ever acts this weird is when its that time of the month. And I know that's not the case now because last week she sent Bud to the Quickie Mart to get her a box of tampons and a quart of Mashes Triple Chocolate Fudge Rum Ripple Delight Ice Cream.
Before we got back in Old Blue we went to the restroom together. Momma never goes along with me to the bathroom. As we were leaving the gas station Momma looked over at me, lit cigarette in hand and she smiled at me like she did when I was little, a long, long time ago. She smiled at me even though I was getting cherry pie filling all over my brand new tee shirt that she had given me. She won the t-shirt last winter for winning the wet t-shirt contest at Dukie's bar. After she won Dukie's wet t-shirt contest, Dukie gave her a job as a barmaid. I figured she was feeling better because she didn't yell at me for sloppin' so I asked her what we were doing. She just said, in her phoney southern accent, "Oh, hunny, we're goin' on a little 'venture." And she winked and took a long drag off of her cigarette and threw it out the window. She turned up the radio and started singing along. I think she was just singing along to the loud music to avoid all my questions. She says it works on her nerves when I ask so many questions.
I've just now turned to look out the passenger side window and I saw a sign that says YOU ARE NOW LEAVING FLORIDA. PLEASE COME BACK. WE'VE ENJOYED YOUR COMPANY.
Dear, Diary, I don't know what we are doing but I do believe Momma, when she says it's going to be an adventure.