Surviving Summer Vacation by Willo Davis Roberts

Author:Willo Davis Roberts
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Aladdin

Chapter 8

If it hadn’t been for the Rupes, Yellowstone would have been a blast.

Of course, without the Rupes, we’d never have been there, so we made the best of it.

Harry was bored with geysers and paint pots after the first ones, Billy preferred to play with William, Ariadne listened when we showed her things and explained them and Mr. and Mrs. Rupe annoyed the other tourists by their lack of consideration and by Mrs. Rupe’s cigarette butts, which she dropped throughout the park.

Harry kept demanding that we see a bear. I think partly he was teasing his little sister because she was afraid of bears, but mostly he was used to getting what he wanted without waiting for it.

Unfortunately the bears didn’t cooperate. We saw elk, though—magnificent animals that grazed within a few yards of us, unperturbed. It was as if they knew they were safe within the park: they ignored us until Mrs. Rupe approached too close to snap a picture, then the bull moved off and the cows followed.

We saw literally hundreds of buffalo. Several times we got held up because one of the great shaggy beasts was ambling up the middle of a narrow road and we couldn’t get past it.

I could see people in other vehicles snapping pictures and peering out in interest. ­Ariadne pressed close to Alison. “Will it bite me?” she asked.

There were a few mule deer, too. It was different seeing them in the wild than it had been watching them in a zoo. It was kind of exciting to have a wild animal come right up alongside of the coach.

“Wait until I stop,” Mr. Rupe said to Harry. “These windows, except for the windshield, are all tinted. You won’t get good pictures through the darker glass.”

Harry didn’t pay any attention. When an animal came in sight, he began clicking away. Billy looked if they were really close, but mostly he was still more interested in the cat. I wondered if his folks were going to return it to the campground owners, or if they’d let him take it home with them.

Mrs. Rupe said it was too tiring to drive around the park all day, every day. So by about midafternoon, the first day and every day after, we headed back for the camp. There the little kids could swim or use the playground equipment (with Alison watching them every minute, of course) and Harry could play video games and swim. Mr. and Mrs. Rupe went over to the Nabs to play cards or watch a movie that they didn’t think was suitable for Billy and Ariadne.

“I’m surprised they care,” Alison commented to me. “They don’t seem to care about much else the kids do.”

“More likely,” I suggested, “they go over there just to get away from the kids. It’s too noisy when they’re here.”

Alison gave me a wry grin. “Are you getting cynical, Lewis?”

I thought about it and nodded. “Yeah. I guess I am.”

As much of the time as we could, Alison

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