1st 5 Pages September Workshop - McMahon Rev 2

Name: Kathie McMahon
Genre: Middle Grade Contemporary
Title: Road Trip With Crazy Grandma

“Watch out, Indiana!” I yelled as the boulder thundered down the passageway in the Temple of Doom. Legos flew everywhere as I rescued the figurine from the scene just in time.

“Nate?” A tired voice drifted up the stairs. “Dinner’s almost ready and you need to set the table.”

I sighed and picked up my Indiana Jones book that I had been using to create the Temple of Doom out of Legos. I tried to follow the descriptions exactly, every little detail. I was just getting to the good part of the story, too.

“Nate!” Dad’s voice got louder, with more of an edge to it. The kind of parental tone that makes you jump.

“Coming!” I tossed the book onto my bed and bounded down the stairs.

Smells of garlic filled the kitchen. Dad stood over the stove and stirred his prize-winning spaghetti sauce as he hugged his cell phone between his ear and shoulder.

“No, I haven’t mentioned it to him yet, Lou. I plan to talk to him about it at dinner.” Dad glanced up, his lips in a grim line. “Okay we’ll see you in a bit.”

“What’s up?” I asked, as I got the silverware out of the drawer. “Who was on the phone?”

Dad continued to stir the sauce with one hand as he dumped the spaghetti into a colander in the sink. “Grandma Lou. She’s coming over in a little while. She has something she wants to show you.”

“Oh, yeah? What is it?” Grandma Lou loved to surprise me with all sorts of unusual stuff, like an arrowhead she found or a collectible comic book.

Dad didn’t say anything as he struggled with the pasta like it was a huge ball of twine that he scooped onto two plates. I winced as he ladled the sauce sloppily onto each pile of noodles. I would have to get a separate bowl for my salad and ranch dressing. I hate it when different foods touch each other.

“There,” Dad said as he plunked both plates down on the table. “Grab the salad and napkins and we’re good to go.”

I slid the chair out and carefully laid the napkin on my lap. “So what’s Grandma Lou coming over for?”

“There’s something I want to talk to you about,” Dad said.

Uh oh, this can’t be good. Parents never start a sentence that way when they’re planning on taking you to Disneyland or buying you a cool video game. They only want to “talk” when there’s bad news, like a phone call from your teacher, or the movie you can’t go see, or . . . someone is sick.

“What’s wrong?” My stomach lurched at the thought that Dad might be sick, or maybe something had happened to Grandpa Don or Grandma Lou.

“Nothing’s wrong, really.” Dad tried to force a smile. “We need to talk about what you’re going to be doing this summer until I get my vacation in July.”

“I think I’m old enough to stay home alone this year.” I grabbed my fork and started swirling my spaghetti around the tip, careful not to splash any sauce on my clean shirt.

“I know that’s what you want to do,” Dad said, “but I’m afraid that’s not an option.”

I slammed my fork down a little harder than I meant to, spaghetti sauce spilling over onto the table. “Why not? All the other guys do! I’m almost eleven, you know.”

“I’m well aware of that,” Dad said. “But I’m not comfortable leaving you here by yourself yet.”

“Well, one thing’s for sure – I’m NOT going to Boy Scout Camp again!” I picked up my fork and stabbed at my salad. I had told Dad about the crafts and the fossil hunt and a few other things that I did at camp, but I didn’t tell him about the bad stuff, like throwing up while horseback riding or almost drowning in the creek.  And I definitely didn’t say anything about the bully Oliver.

“It’s too late to sign you up anyway,” Dad said. “About the only thing left is Kids Kamp.”

“No!” I jumped up from the table, causing my glass of milk to wobble back and forth and splash onto the placemat. “All the kids are younger than me and they play a bunch of baby games. I want to stay home and read my books and build things with my Legos and stuff like that. If Mom were here, she would trust me enough to let me stay here alone!”

“That’s enough, young man. Sit down.” Dad bit his bottom lip and I could see redness creeping up his neck, which happens when he’s about to explode in anger. Something that seemed to be happening a lot more lately. I took my seat, careful not to spill anything else.

“It’s not a matter of trust, Nate,” Dad looked me in the eye.  “Your mom was a teacher, so she had the summers to spend time with you. I wish I had her schedule, but I don’t. I would like to take you to the museum, go bike riding to the park, have picnics and make movies with the video camera like she did. But I can’t.”

Dad sat up a little straighter. “So I have another suggestion,” he said. “How would you like to go on a road trip with Grandma Lou?”

I nearly choked on a piece of lettuce. “But, Dad, Grandma Lou is SO weird!  I mean, I love her and everything, but most grandmas bake cookies and take their grandkids to the museum. How many grandmas do you know that see how many marshmallows they can stuff in their mouths and dress up like Elvis Presley?” My memory drifted back to Grandma Lou lip-syncing You Ain’t Nothing But a Hound Dog at the Parent Night talent show. So embarrassing!

Dad chuckled. “Nate, your grandma may be a little unusual, but she really wants to take you on this trip. Who knows what exciting adventures you’ll have?”

I visualized myself hanging from a cliff, Grandma Lou reaching out to grab me before I plummeted to the ground below.

Dad concentrated on cutting a meatball.  “Grandma thought this would be a good experience for you to get away from the house and all the . . . reminders of summers with your mom.”

“But we’ll miss the anniversary,” I said. “I won’t be able to put daisies on her grave. She always expects me to do that.”

“What she expects from you is to live your life. She would want you to move on.”  Dad wiped his mouth with his napkin and set it next to his empty plate.

“Is that what you’ve done?”  I glared at him.  “Is that why you took down all the pictures of Mom after she died and never put them back up?  Have you moved on without her?”  My throat got tighter as the anger boiled inside me.  “Do you want to move on without me, too?  Is that why you want to get rid of me?”

Dad’s face paled and his mouth hung open.  For a minute, he could only choke on the words he tried to get out.  “What . . .?  Where did you . . .?  How could you possibly think that?”

“Well, I refuse to go on a stupid trip with Grandma Lou and her crazy ideas.” I left the table and stomped up the stairs to my room.

PITCH:
It all started with a scrapbook. “Things I Want To Do Before I Get Old” was printed on the front. A collection of pictures and drawings stored in one place by ten-year-old Nate’s mother. Dreams that would never come true. You see, cancer took Nate’s mom away long before she finished the adventures in the scrapbook.

Nate loves adventure, but finds them in his books and imagination. Fear gets in the way of trying new things. What if he gets hurt? What if he can’t do it? What if he . . . dies?

Grandma Lou is no ordinary grandmother. She tries something new every day and isn’t afraid to do outlandish things like enter a pie-eating contest or skydive out of an airplane dressed like Elvis.

So when Grandma Lou introduces Nate to his mother’s childhood scrapbook, the two of them decide to head out on a cross-country trip in a turquoise Cadillac named Lucille. Their crazy adventures take Nate out of his books and into reality, and Grandma Lou reveals a secret she’s never told anyone.

Road Trip With Crazy Grandma is a middle grade novel about overcoming fears, building relationships, and completing dreams.