when i'm gone

disneyland

we pulled into a big parking structure and a man in a plaid coat directed us where to park. we went up about three levels then found a perfect spot. we all got out of the car, bouncing and yelling, "we're at disneyland! we're at disneyland!" i had never ever been to disneyland. mommy told me she used to go all the time when she was younger, but she says it must be very different now. i had never felt this excited. "can you believe it? this is gonna be so so so fun!" i shook twyla as she laughed hysterically. "ok, calm down you guys," mommy smiled. grandma and grandpa grabbed their backpacks and pointed toward an exit that led to a sidewalk and a large group of people. "over there is the monorail, we'd better hurry so we don't miss it," grandma seemed excited herself. "i haven't been for 20 years!" she exclaimed.

what's a monorail? i pondered. maybe it's a ride? but it didn't look like we were in disneyland yet. grandpa led the way, mommy holding cc's hand and twyla and i skipped along side. once we joined the big group of people who had strollers and bags and babies, i could start to hear the fun music from the park. i looked around, seeing fun signs with the mouse that was in grandma and grandpa's hats. it was mickey! he smiled in each picture. a big bell made me jump out of my thoughts. i could see a train slowing down and stop in front of us. cool. it was shiny and looked brand new, but it was big and long. somehow, we had ended up at the front of the big group.

a bunch of people piled out of the train, most having mickey ears on, they looked wet and weary, but each of them had a big smile on their faces. does disneyland do that to you? make you wet and smiley? i shrugged. grandma grabbed me and twyla's hands and instructed us to go up the steps of the train. "ok, up you go." once we were all on, grandpa led us to the nose of the monorail. there was a wide window that allowed us to see everything. i sat on my knees looking out at everything. it was so amazing and we hadn't even left yet. i sat down fully and looked at twyla. "i wonder what rides they have!" i waited for her response. she looked up at the ceiling, as if she were thinking hard. "big ones. we should ask grandma and grandpa." twyla looked at cc expectedly. he rolled his blue eyes. "hey grandpa, what rides are here? what are the best ones? why's it so big here?"

grandpa chuckled. "well for starters, it's not just disneyland. disneyland is also next to california adventure! they've added a lot of rides since i've been here." we all looked at him in awe. "when we took your mother... there was soarin around california, tower of terror, that toy story ride, lots!" all of it sounded fun. cc was especially ecstatic about the toy story ride. it had been a few minutes and not everyone had boarded the monorail. "what are we waiting for?" i asked, kicking the seat impatiently. mommy looked over at the entrance to the nose and saw a woman who looked very similar to mommy and a young boy maybe a year or two younger than us. maybe more... i couldn't tell. "who are they?" cc looked at me as if i knew. i shrugged.

"lily! oh my gosh i've missed you so much." mommy stood up and wrapped the woman in her arms. they had the same brown hair color, except this lily was shorter. "i know! this is a great place to meet up. and are those your kids?" lily looked over at us and gasped. "they sure are. they've gotten so big. you haven't seen them since they were 2 have you?" mommy laughed. "it's been that long? little quade here sure has gotten bigger, too. they've never met him, right? have you either?" lily ruffled the boys hair. he looked kinda of like grandpa, but a lot younger. "cmere you bugger," grandpa held out his arms to quade. grandma hugged him next and said their hellos to lily.

"kids, do you remember aunt lily?" she looked at her sister. we all kinda stared. i felt rather anxious at the amount of people in this small place. "i'm sure they do," aunt lily chuckled. "this is your cousin quade," mommy moved quade forward a little bit so we could be introduced. "who's who?" aunt lily came over to us and kissed us all on the head. she smelled good, like cinnamon. she had really good teeth and pretty hazel eyes. i felt drawn to her a little bit. "this is charlie clyde," mommy rested her hand on cc's head, "this is twyla fay," she repeated, "and this is willow celeste." mommy ended with me. "call me cc!" cc high fived quade. "twyla is fine with me." "i go by will." quade was not shy. "you all have awesome names! have you guys ever been to disneyland? this place is amazing." he had some trouble saying is r's correctly and had a little bit of a lisp, but he seemed like a good cousin to have.

we all found our seats and the monorail started moving. "have you been to disneyland before?" i asked quade who sat in between cc and twyla. "tons! i live right next to it. i go practically every day. have you guys never been?" he seemed really chatty. "nope." cc scratched his head. "what are the rides like?" twyla leaned in closer. "i like space mountain. it's so fast!" space mountain sounded super thrilling. i imagined planets all above in the sky and big bright stars ahead of me. "that sounds awesome. what else is there?" cc retied his shoelace as he asked. "well, there's guardians of the galaxy. it's based off of the movies." i had seen the first one and found it entertaining, but i was confused for the most part. i guess i wasn't too interested. a ride based off of it might be cool, though, i thought. "there's grizzly river run. it's super fast and you get really, really wet," quade growled like a bear. "then there's the haunted mansion! that ride is scary. there's a bunch of ghosts and an elevator that has pictures that stretch really weird!"

i swallowed hard. haunted mansion? that seems scary. i wouldn't mind passing on that one, but twyla and cc both seemed really interested. i'll give it a chance. i left the conversation momentarily to look out the windows and see pretty buildings fly by and big crowds of people walking and wearing minnie mouse ears. i smiled seeing kids walking and eating cotton candy or churros or corn dogs. my stomach growled. "hungry, kiddo?" grandpa pat my knee. "ya, kinda." i whispered, "disneyland has the best corn dogs on the planet. don't even get me started on their candy apples..." grandpa licked his lips. that sounded super good. "they've also got amazing restaurants. let's definitely get some brunch somewhere before we the big rides." i agreed with grandpa then looked back at quade.

"and across from the island is new orleans which has pirates of the caribbean! it's a boring ride, i think. you just sit on a boat and watch these people sing songs and fire guns at each other. i guess it's supposed to be about this one pirate who goes on an adventure or something... speaking of adventure, there's indiana jones!" quade went on talking about how there's a boulder that almost crushes you and it's super realistic, but i couldn't stop imagining pirates of the caribbean. i had seen nearly all of the movies and i loved each one. i'm particularly excited for that ride. i twirled my dirty blonde hair at the end of my ponytail, holding back my shrills of excitement for the rides.