I was desperately sprinting around in search of my parents. I could feel sweat pour down my body like a waterfall.1 I could feel my heart pumping out of my chest. I bolted past the crowd to see my angry but relieved parents.

I was five years old, and my mom, my dad, and I were about to go on a non-stop flight to St. Lucia. I had never been there before, but from the weather forecast back in Park Ridge, all I could expect was hot weather and a beach. After arriving at the airport, I saw the palm trees outside, and all of the burnt smells of fast food places roamed the air. We went straight to the rental cars, where we got a small red car that had an odor of new car mixed with cleaning supplies. From there, we drove to a small restaurant because we hadn’t eaten since 6:00 that morning, and it was now 4:30. My parents were not in a good mood due to the fact that I wouldn’t leave them alone the whole flight. But, it was a long flight, and I was bored. I could hear them whisper, but I didn’t know what they were saying. When I tried to get closer to hear what they were saying, they stopped talking and glared. A minute later the waitress came, and we ordered our food. I didn’t understand what the menu was, so my mom ordered for me. When I went back to my seat, they started to whisper again, and I was getting very agitated with them. When the food came, they stopped talking, and I gulped down what looked like smashed up peas. But, I didn’t care what the food looked like; I was hungry and eager to get to the resort. Twenty minutes later we were all done eating, and my dad called for the check. In the car, I was very bored sitting in the traffic.

“Mom!” I yelled. “When is the traffic going to move? We have been waiting here for ten hours!”

“Katie,” my mom replied, “I can’t do anything about the traffic, but do you want to read a book while we are waiting for the traffic to move?”

I didn’t reply, but after one more long hour, we finally arrived at the all-inclusive resort. I bolted out of the car and sprinted inside to see the miniature waterfall that was set up in the lobby. The sound of a rainforest played throughout the hotel. Instantly, I looked over the balcony in search of the pool. It had a slide and a diving board. Right away I wanted to sprint to my room and throw my swimsuit on, but I had to wait for my parents to check in and move the luggage up to our room. But, I couldn’t wait; I jumped and tugged on my mom’s shirt and my dad’s pants. When we finally got to the hotel room, my parents told me to put clothes on over my swimsuit, and my mom put some money in my bag. They told me that due to my behavior I was going to be in something called the Mickey Mouse Club, which was actually a daycare center, so my parents could go off and do what they wanted to do. When I got there, daycare was almost over; all that was left was swimming and nap time. I liked the swimming part. We went into the ocean, and I found some white seashells on the shore. I also found a red, and on some parts, blue crab with one of its pinchers cut off. Everything was going great, and I was having a lot of fun with my new friend. When the camp counselor told us to go back to the daycare center, I knew that I was not going to like nap time. On our way over to the daycare center, my friend and I were not happy about the nap time.

“I had to go to nap time yesterday, and it is so boring. There are little babies crying the whole time,” my friend told me.

“Well then, let’s not go back to the daycare center. Let’s go have our own fun!” I exclaimed.

“Yes, let’s do it!” my new friend answered.

So, we decided to go back to the pool and swim. We sprinted to the pool and did a one eighty into the water where there weren’t any lifeguards. We climbed out again, and I decided to try a flip off the diving board. I had done a flip once before, so I thought that I could do it again. I walked up the pasty green diving board, jumped as high as I could, and flipped my body as fast as I could. I landed with my feet first into the cold pool. I got out and cheered and screamed; I was so happy to be able to do a flip.

My new friend squealed, “I can do that! Watch me!”


I waited by the side of the pool while my new friend attempted her flip. When she jumped, she twisted her body wrong, and she hit her head on the board. I was scared half to death. She climbed out of the pool and was bleeding from her nose and mouth. I didn’t know what to do. A couple walking by saw the whole thing and rushed to help. I thought to myself, “Oh no, my parents are going to find out that I left the daycare center!” So, I knew that I had to run and find my parents before the daycare lady did, so I could explain to them what happened. I ran to the beach and desperately searched for my parents. But, they weren’t there, so I sprinted to the dock because my parents liked scuba diving, so I figured they would be there. My heart was racing so fast I thought it was going to explode.2 By then, sweat poured down my face, and I was exhausted from sprinting around the resort. Finally, I saw my angry parents waiting for me in frustration because they had already gotten the call from the daycare center explaining everything that had happened.

“It wasn’t my fault; I just didn’t want to go to nap time,” I confessed.

“What were you thinking? You could have put yourself in great danger!” my dad roared.

“What were you thinking?” my mom asked.

“I’m sorry. It will never happen again, but can we go see how my friend is doing?” I asked.

“Yes, I guess that’s okay, but you are grounded from the minute we get home,” my parents replied.

“Okay and I really am sorry,” I answered.

“At least you are okay and safe, so maybe tomorrow we can go to the beach, and you can find sand dollars at the sandbar,” my parents confessed.

“Okay and I am really sorry,” I replied.