Quick Trip

Saturday morning, on the spur of the moment, we decided to attend the Italian Festival in Houston. With visions of chicken Marsala and canoli dancing in our heads, we eagerly wedged ourselves into the Jimmy. Always the obstinate one, the truck refused to start.

"Well, so much for that idea, unless," John said, "Enterprise has a car we can rent."

Luck was in our favor, and we rented a Dodge Magnum for the weekend. Let me be the first to tell you, this is NOT your classic station wagon. To begin with, this fire-engine colored creation had a Hemi engine, which John was extremely excited; very patiently John explained a Hemi was an ultra-powerful engine, very seldom seen in a car. With a "that's nice dear" expression plastered on my face, I "oohed" and "ah ed" in all the right places as he went on about pistons and cylinders. I do well if I can change a tire, check the fluid levels, pump the gas and find the radiator; anything else about cars is over my head and is completely uninteresting to me. The front end resembled the muscle car, the Dodge Charger, and the rear end looked like the George Jetson version of a space age station wagon..

John took me for a spin before we left on the trip. Needless to say, I haven't been in anything so powerful since my younger, single days when I had a sports car.

As soon as we reached the festival, we were greeted by the mouth-watering aromas, and joyous live Italian music. I wanted to see the arts and crafts first, but being a minority in this family, I was out-voted and we looked at the car exhibit instead. The were Lamborghini and Ferrari of all different colors; I have to admit, it was kind of exciting to see a car that costs more than my house. I didn't dare even breath on them, for fear a drop of saliva might escape my quivering lips and drop on a hood marring the finish in some way.

I was relieved when we entered the pavilion, and visited the food booths. I was just sitting down with a mouth-watering bowl of chicken Marsala, when , onstage, the MC announced a Trivia Contest. The winner would receive a CD of Italian Festival songs. Too bad I can't win that. I never win anything.

They gave the question, and wonders upon wonders, I called out the right answer and won. I felt like I was walking through oatmeal as I walked past numerous sets of curious eyes on my way to the stage. I still couldn't believe my good fortune until the MC handed me the CD, still tightly wrapped in cellophane.

"Hey, that was almost too easy for you," a man sitting by our table joked. "Maybe they should've had you sing for it."

"Oh hell no!," John blurted.

Jerk, I thought as everyone around us burst out laughing.

The rest of the afternoon was filled with carnival rides for the kids, and grape stomping, which we watched, and more wonderful music. Finally, as the sun began to bid farewell for the day, we loaded up and came home. We hated to leave, but after the long trip, it was good to be back home.