Page 66 of It Runs in the Family

“While I appreciate the generous offer,” I said, because it was generous. I was pretty sure they wouldn’t have made the same offer to any of our other cousins. “No offense, but I think you two are a little too wild for me.”

They burst out laughing.

“You just need to learn to loosen up,” Mary Ellen said, then glanced at her sister.

Ava grinned and nodded.

I narrowed my eyes. “I don’t like that look. What are you two up to?”

“It’s too soon to go to Garrett’s. You’ll end up watching football all afternoon.”

“Football season’s over,” I said.

“It’s sad that you know that,” Ava said with a fake pout.

“You two threw a Super Bowl party a little over a month ago,” I protested.

“So?” Ava said in confusion.

“The Super Bowl’s the last game of the football season.”

Ava looked perplexed. “Oh.”

“Well, can you imagine that,” Mary Ellen said, leaning closer to the steering wheel and squinting as she approached an intersection.

“Just how bad is your eyesight?” I asked, suddenly worried for our safety.

“You know the top E on the eye chart?” Ava asked. “She can’t see it.”

“Oh, I can see it,” Mary Ellen protested. “It’s just a little fuzzy.”

“Then how do you read street signs?” I asked in alarm.

“She doesn’t,” Ava said as though I was an idiot. “How can she when she can’t see the top E?”

Mary Ellen drove through the intersection, ignoring the stop sign, not even slowing down. A horn honked from the left side as a pickup truck skidded behind us, barely missing the car’s tail end.

“Oops,” Mary Ellen said with a grimace, and kept on going.

“Maybe you should pull over and I’ll drive,” I suggested.

“You can’t drive. You don’t have your driver’s license,” Ava said.

I glanced down and realized I’d left my purse in Garrett’s truck. Great.

“Driving without a license seems like a better idea than getting us and possibly someone else killed.”

“Don’t be so dramatic,” Mary Ellen said with a sigh. “Where’s the turn off? I thought it was up here.”

“It’s still up ahead a bit,” Ava said as she pointed toward the windshield. “I see it up there.”

“That’s not the way to Garrett’s,” I said.

“We’ve already been over this,” Ava said. “We’re not goin’ to Garrett’s. We’re goin’ to Bueller’s.”

“I think I’ve had enough wild for the day,” I said. “You know what sounds good? A nice long nap.”

“You sound like Granny,” Mary Ellen said. “Your problem is you act way too old for your age. You always have. You need to live a little.”