The Old, Cold, Blue Van

               “Shotgun!” Nick cried as he ran across the parking lot.

                “”That’s not fair! You always get to sit up front. It’s my turn!” said Libby, her dance bag bouncing behind her.

                “Quiet down, guys. All of Hamburg doesn’t need to hear you two fight.” Mom admonished. “Nick, you sat in front on the way to dance.”

                The three of them reached the car as Nick agreed to let Libby sit up front. They waited a few seconds in the cold while Mom first unlocked one door and then reached inside to unlock the others.

                “It’s freezing in here! It’s as cold as it is outside!” Libby complained. She rubbed her hands together and secretly wished she had remembered her mittens.

                The Vogie van was more commonly known as the “Old Blue Van.” There was no air conditioning, you had to manually lower the windows, and the radio didn’t work. The worst part of all was that in the winter it took five minutes for the engine to warm up and a good fifteen for the hot air to start come out of the vents.

                “While we’re waiting, what should we do to warm up?” asked Mom. She was always thinking up wacky and wonderful ideas and she was trying to incorporate this creativity into her children’s minds.

                “We could sing.” said Nick. As soon as he said this, a mischievous gleam came into Libby’s eyes and a smile crept across her face as she started singing.

                “This is the song that never ends! It just on and on my frie-“ But before she could finish the first round Libby’s serenade was put to an end by her mother.

                “We could dance.” Nick offered.

                “I just did that, Nick. I’m tired.” Said Libby, who had just taken an hour of ballet and an hour of jazz. “Besides, how are we supposed to dance in the car?” Mom pulled out of the parking lot as the bickering began. The engine was warm but the people were still freezing and that wasn’t helping the cranky atmosphere.

                “I got it!” cried Mom. “We could howl!” She let out a bay that could have passed for a werewolf. “Come on guys!” Libby joined in and found it really did warm you up. She didn’t know why, but it did. Nick, on the other hand, sat in the back shaking his head and wondering why no one liked his ideas.

                The car had just gotten warm when the car pulled into their driveway. They rushed into the house and Nick and Libby were promptly sent to bed. Ten minutes later, all was quiet upstairs.

                “My plan worked.” Mom said to Dad as she settled down with a cup of tea. “All that howling wore them out!”