Rounding the staircase, heading for the kitchen, I bumped into my uncle. I had thought he was already at work, but here he was. I could hear my dear auntie making breakfast and I called out,"Good morning!"as I attempted to extricate myself from his grasp.                                          My uncle was a nice man most of the time, but I did not look forward to my visit each summer. I traded places with my cousin. He would go up and stay with my brother at my house,while I came here. I loved sewing with my aunt and visiting with my Grandma who stayed in a bed in the living room. She had been, what my Mama had called, 'bedfast' for over thirty years with crippling arthritis. Her poor hands and feet were distended and crooked. When I had been younger, I thought someone had beaten her. She was in so much pain, but was such a wonderful and dear Grammy. She also was my protector. She had to stay in that bed, but she was ever-vigilant and never missed what was going on. My dear aunt, on the other hand, was clueless...or perhaps, simply in denial.To this day, I have not been able to figure out the truth of this.                                                                                                                                                   This was going to be a fun day. My doll needed new clothes and my aunt was going to show me how to make patterns and sew on a real machine. After breakfast, I ran upstairs to grab my doll, but as I came back down the stairs, I heard them talking about a new plan for the day. This was my worst nightmare. He wanted to take me with him in his truck as he attended to his clients all over the county. Auntie thought it would be such fun for me. They announced our outing as I walked into the kitchen. Auntie was getting out sandwich fixings and she asked for my help to make picnic lunches. I wrapped pickles,bagged potato chips, and washed apples as I almost started to cry. My aunt thought I didn't want to leave her, so she promised we would sew tomorrow. She gave me a separate sack, then, with oatmeal-raisin cookies and some wrapped taffy.                                                                                                                                  She sent me upstairs to change clothes while he went to collect fishing poles and tackle. I walked over to answer Grammy's call when I came downstairs. She said in a louder voice than usual, that I could stay home with her if I wanted to...but I heard the screen door close as my uncle left with our stuff he had gathered and our food. I felt the hot tears start to fall...for I knew there was nothing I could do about this...and I knew no other way out of the trip, for I had been on these trips before.