He began to feel, lonely. Mom would have woken him for dinner, and he missed his X-box; and his arms hurt from chopping wood, and shooting the rifle all day. He had been there only two days, and he was not sure what to expect in the next five days, dread began to settle in. He may have nodded off, may he did not, but soon he saw the sun coming up so he tipped down to the family room, opened the shades. As he sat there, the sun slowly came up, the chickens were waking up, and soon Auntie Mae came down. “Good Morning Larry, I hope you are not too upset about missing dinner,” she said. I had come up to wake you, but you were out like a light so I let you sleep. What time did you get up sweetie? Larry told her it was 4am when he woke up, and he just stayed in bed and listened to the sounds.

            Soon everyone was up and they were planning a fishing day, Oh boy said Larry, this will be great! This was a family event, since Auntie Mae joined them, she packed a picnic basket with sandwiches, fruit, juice and other snacks the made the basket very heavy; he realized as he placed it in the back of the truck. Uncle John and James went to the barn to get their fishing gear, and then the all piled into the truck and headed out. Larry was very excited about going fishing; he could not recall ever going fishing before, he just remembered the stories that his cousin told him. After driving for about an hour, they parked, and ugh, again they had to hike. They hiked up the side of a mountain; when they got to the top, it was flat and beautiful? It had a large lake or stream, and you could see the fish from the side, wow thought Larry.

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            Wow! That was until he was informed that they would have to dig for worms; gosh he though, everything required work. Work for heat, work for the feast, work to go shooting a rifle, that made him ache, and now this. Larry started to get home sick. They fished all day, had lunch, ate some snacks and went back to fishing. Larry caught 2 fish while James and Uncle John caught about six or seven, but then there came more work. They had to clean the fish; ugh Larry thought. After cleaning the fish, they cleaned up the area, and “hiked” back to the truck. It wasn’t as bad as when they hiked in because the food basket was empty, but now they had the fish to carry, and it smelt. Getting back to the house Larry was very quiet, he could not believe he actually want to live here, everything they did for enjoyment, required not just work, but hard work. Back home they just went to the supermarket for fish, and the milk was there too. Here to get milk they had to put the empty bottle outside at night, and if they forgot, then they had to go down to the farm and pick up the milk themselves; and then carry it back home.

            The week went by, he chopped wood, learned how to start a fire in the fire pit, he got to practice more shooting, his aim got better, and they went fishing the last day he was there; but Larry was very ready to go home. It was nice to be there and he loved his Uncle John and Auntie Mae, and even his cousin James, but going home meant getting rest, seeing his mother, and he definitely missed his nighttime routine of playing with his X-Box at home. It was great to visit, but he definitely preferred to be home.

            Yes, it always seems the grass is always greener on the other side until you spend some time there, with people who live and work there. See all those fun things that James spoke about all require work, or as mom said, preparations.

            As Larry sat on his own bed, playing with his X-Box, he closed his eyes as he listened to the traffic below, the horns honking; yes it was great to be home.