A Trip To Florida

Silence... complete and utter silence filled our bedroom. I looked over at my husband. Watched as he stared blankly outside of our window. I sighed. Unsure of what to say or do. Honestly, the only thing that I could manage to muster up was a gentle apology. I’m not sure why, but I wasn’t the best when it came to condolences. Most people would probably embrace their spouse, you know try to console them. Not my socially awkward ass. It took me a second to even realize I was giving him that weird church pat on his back. You know the one where people usually say “There there everything is going to be alright.” He smiled, he appreciated my effort despite my uncomfortableness. Chauncey wasn’t one to show much emotion anyway. I had to admit that this situation was a hard pill to swallow. Beyond pouring salt on a wound. I would even call it a living nightmare to be exact. It was only 45 minutes ago that his mother called him hysterically crying. From what I could over hear, his uncle had passed, and willed him his beach house in Florida. We only had a day to get packed, and load up the car.

The next morning I decided to wake up a little early, and cook us something to eat before our trip. We had a long drive ahead of us. “Good morning...you’re up early.” Chauncey said kissing me on the forehead. I handed him a cup of freshly brewed coffee. “We have a long trip. Can’t leave on an empty stomach.” He looked at his watch. Then rubbed his forehead. “Yeah, I’m really not looking forward to this babe.” “I know, and again I’m so sorry about Uncle Vick...I know how close you two were.” Chauncey stared off into space for a second. I placed a stack of blueberry pancakes in front of him. Hoping that the aroma would soothe his aching heart. “So what part of Florida did he live in again?” He smiled at me, and then shook his head. “You only got a gist of the conversation I see.” “What do you mean? Your mom said he left you his beach house in Florida right?” “Indiana.” “Indiana what?” “Michelle, we are going to Florida, Indiana not the state of Florida.” It was my turn to stare blankly. “Wait, you said as a child you spent all your summers in Florida.” “I did, Florida Indiana.” I started laughing. I had to research this place. I was expecting lush palm trees, and soft sand that cradled your feet once you stepped on it, not gritty sand and mucky waters. I took a bite of my pancakes trying to mask my disappointment. If anything it would be a nice getaway despite the circumstances.

“You got everything babe?” I asked as he grabbed our last suitcase. “Yeah, that’s everything.” He placed it inside of our trunk. I could see the sadness forming in his eyes again. He cleared his throat, refusing to let any raw emotion pour out. “How long is the trip supposed to be?” I asked curiously. “Roughly 5 hours give or take.” I smiled and reclined back into my seat, and closed my eyes. “Perfect, plenty of time for me to take a nap.” I could feel Chauncey giving me an annoyed look. He huffed. “Michelle, are your serious? You’re really going to sleep the entire trip?” I peaked at him through my sunglasses then started laughing. “Of course not, I plan on talking your head off, and playing DJ.” He began laughing too. “I really married a weirdo didn’t I?” I punched him playfully in the arm. “Ouch...” He whined. “That didn’t hurt. Toughen up.” I pulled out my cell phone and started scrolling through a few songs. It warmed my heart to see him smile again.

A few R&B jams, and gospel songs later we found ourselves only an hour away from our destination. We pulled into a nearby gas station, both eager to stretch our legs, and grab some much needed artificial energy beverage. We pulled into what appeared to be a mom and pops station. There was even an old man sitting out front in a rocking chair. I was a little hesitant to go inside. Chauncey on the other hand was eating this up. I forgot this was a part of his childhood. “C’mon let’s go grab something to eat babe. They have great food here.” I looked at the exterior of the station. “Are you sure this is the closest gas station? I’m pretty sure we can make it to your Uncle’s with half a tank left.” “I promise you it’s fine.” He gently squeezed my hand. Ok, so you know the saying about these small towns and everybody knows everybody . That’s exactly what happened the moment we stepped inside this place. “Oh my God! Claire look who it is!” An older gentleman shouted the instant we walked inside . He stood up from his seat shook Chauncey’s hand while patting him on the back. A few seconds later a busty heavyset woman appeared from the behind counter. “You know I’m watching my soaps back here...” Her eyes welled up the instant she saw him. “Chuck! Chuck is that you?” She hobbled over to us giving him a huge embrace. “Chuck?” I questionably mouthed out to myself. I stood there awkwardly as the three of them continued conversing amongst themselves. “Sweet molasses, I’m sorry honey. We are being so rude.” The older woman, I assumed name was Claire. “I’m Claire, and this is my husband Perry. We are friends of Chuck’s Uncle.” Chauncey chimed in. “This is my wife Michelle. We drove down to sort out the property, and help with the arrangements since Mama won’t be here until later this week.” Perry pulled out a handkerchief from his pocket and dabbed his eyes. “I still can’t believe that he’s gone. We were just planning our next fishing trip not too long ago.” There was a somber silence. I decided to let them continue to talk amongst themselves, and explore the store some. That’s when I noticed the lottery ticket stand near the back. Now I wasn’t one to play the lottery, but something in me stirred. I grabbed a random slip, and slid it in my purse. I figured we could swing by later once I decided which numbers I wanted to play. We hugged, and said our goodbyes. They walked us back to our car, and handed us a bag with some snacks to take down the road.

Finally, we arrived at our destination, the infamous beach house. It was definitely a fixer upper. But it had character, cute and rustic at the same time. It pretty much resembled a log cabin. Chauncey’s eyes lit up.“This place hasn’t changed one bit.” He said still smiling. He jumped out of the car and bolted towards the house. He lifted up the mat in front of the door, grabbing a key underneath. The door creaked the instant he pushed it open. “Needs some WD-40 huh?” I jokingly asked him. “Yeah, seems like it.” He took my hand eager to show me a glimpse of his past. Each room serving as some piece of history to him.. “See over here babe...this is were Uncle Vick taught me how to play cards. Mama didn’t like that too much.” He said pointing at a table inside of the living room. “Oh, and back here babe, this is where he kept his records for his record player.” It was as if my husband had reverted back to a boy explaining each and every aspect of the house. It was adorable. The final part of the tour lead to his old bedroom. “What do you think?” “This is going to be the first thing we clean.” I said noticing some dust on the dresser. “It’s not that bad.” He said plopping down onto the twin size bed. I sat next to him, laid my head against his shoulder. For a moment we sat in silence. I could only imagine what was going through his mind. It wasn’t long before Chauncey had fallen asleep. I slowly got up, and tiptoed out of the bedroom.

After a five hour trip, I started feeling hunger pains. I grabbed the snack bag Ms. Claire gave us, and pulled out some chips and a sandwich. Crazy enough, this sandwich was huge and needed a knife to cut it. I rummaged around the kitchen. My stomach making it known it was time to eat. I couldn’t understand why it was hard to find a knife or any cutting utensils in this place. I really didn’t want to wake Chauncey; but desperate times called for desperate measures. I decided to open one last drawer before giving up. That’s when I noticed it in the corner. Randomly sitting in the junk drawer. A small black book. Nothing special about it. I figured it was full of phone numbers, I placed it on the table, I phased by it. I cut my sandwich in half, wrapping the other piece up. While eating my sandwich and chips my curiosity got the best of me. I grabbed the book and started skimming through the pages. Numbers... it was full of lottery numbers, and notes marked by each one. I wondered if Chauncey knew about this.

I then wondered if Uncle Vick had a gambling problem. I smiled to myself thinking how crazy and yet amazing it would be to win. I pulled out the slip I had picked up earlier from my purse. I went through a few pages then a randomly stopped at a set of numbers in the book. I copied the numbers as I saw them. “Let’s see what happens.” I walked back to the bedroom. Chauncey was still sleeping so soundly. I hated to wake him. “Babe, wake up.” I said rubbing his shoulder. His eyes slowly opened until finally focusing on the black book I held in my hand. “What’s that?” I handed it to him. “I found it in one of drawers.” He flipped through some of the pages, and started laughing to himself. “This is Uncle Vick’s numbers book. He swore that he would hit big one day.” “Did he ever win?” Chauncey rubbed his chin, trying to recall an instant. “Yes, he won $1,000 back to back one summer I was here.” I showed him the slip. He looked at me surprised. “I saw it at the gas station earlier, and thought why not.” “Yeah, maybe there’s a reason you found it.”

We locked the house and headed back to the gas station to play my numbers. Perry and Claire were delighted to see us again. She handed me the ticket and smiled. “Good luck sweetie!”

For the rest of the night Chauncey began sorting through some paperwork, and handling of the arrangements. While I sat in the living room flipping through random channels. I eventually landed on the Indiana Lottery. I grabbed the ticket from my purse, listening intensely as he went through the varies balls of numbers. I repeatedly looked at my ticket, and then back at the screen. “Baby!” I screamed at the top of my lungs. Chauncey rushed to me. I showed him the ticket. He looked at the television and then back at me. The man repeated the numbers one final time. Needless to say, we had won the $20,000 jackpot. “Well, I guess we’re going to be here a little longer than expected.” He said smiling. “Yeah, I guess so.”