Vacation: Part 1
"So what's new in your genius class, Malcolm?" Lois asked as she set a plate of steaming pancakes in front of her son.
"Nothing much. Caroline is entering us in some writing contest," said Malcolm. He dumped maple syrup over his pancakes and took a huge bite of the delicious food.
"I can't believe Caroline is always you guys in those stupid contests. It's not like you get anything good if you win," Reese gulped down his glass of orange juice in one sip, and went into his room to get his backpack.
"What kind of contest is it, son?" Hal questioned from behind the newspaper he was reading.
"Creative writing about family. It was pretty ludicrous." Malcolm stood up and put his plate into the sink.
"Ludicrous? That's such a big word! I bet you won first prize!" exclaimed Lois. She turned to Dewey, "Honey, don't put your pancakes down your pants."
"Darn!" said Dewey. He stalked despondently into his room.
"So what do you get if you win?" inquired Hal.
"A first class trip to the Caribbean for 2 weeks," Malcolm announced.
"First class to the Caribbean? I've always wanted to go there. Wouldn't it be wonderful if you won?" Lois sighed blissfully.
"Yeah, well it doesn't matter. It's not like I'm going to win." Finished with his breakfast, Malcolm retrieved his backpack, and headed off to school.
When Malcolm walked into class, his teacher Caroline was beaming at him joyfully. The rest of the class appeared to be very angry, and were giving him dirty looks. Caroline cleared her throat and quieted her students.
"I have some very good for you, Malcolm," she smiled, "You won first prize in the creative writing contest! You and your family are going to the Caribbean! Unfortunately, you're going to have to miss some class while you're on your trip."
"I won? Really? And I get to- I mean have to miss class? This is amazing!" babbled Malcolm gleefully.
Malcolm spent the rest of the day completely out of it. He couldn't believe that for once in his life, he was actually lucky. During recess, he suddenly thought of something, and ran over to Caroline.
"Caroline? How many people can I take with me?" he asked.
"Your whole family," Caroline answered.
"Everyone? Even Francis?"
"Yes, of course."
Grinning from ear to ear, Malcolm walked off to find Reese and Dewey so that he could them the wonderful news. According to Caroline, they would be leaving in 2 days. Malcolm gave a giant sigh of contentment.
The next 2 days passed extremely quickly. Before they knew it, Hal, Lois, Francis, Reese, Dewey, and Malcolm were inside the plane, on their way to paradise.
