A/N: Next stop, Montana! A Messer kid (not the one you're thinking) is going to spend the rest of the trip on crutches. What can I say, we have an accident prone family. Enjoy!
Road Trip or How Taylor Lindsay Messer Survived 27 Days in an SUV with Her Five Brothers and Sisters or Why Danny and Lindsay are Never Taking a Road Trip with Six Kids, Two Stowaway Pets and Their Best Friends' Stella and Don Flack and Family Ever, Ever Again (Part Seven)
We drove through Yellowstone. The whole way I could tell that Mom was getting antsy. I swear the closer we go to Bozeman the happier my mother was getting. She kept urging Dad to drive faster. I could tell she really wanted to see her mom and dad. Well stepmom. The closer we got the more excited I got as well. The last time any of us saw Nanna Becky and Poppa Jerry was for the quints' fifth birthday. Nanna Becky had come up for a week to help me with my prom gown. I was making a Marie Antoinette style gown and needed Nanna Becky's help with the side hoops and some of the trim. It was a beautiful dress by the time I got it finished and it was the most unique dress at prom.
Dad turned down the long dirt road to the ranch. I could see someone on the porch of the house. Both Mom and I broke into a huge grin and could barely wait to get out of the car. Dad had barely put the car in park, before Mom was out of the car and running to Poppa Jerry. I had never seen Mom that happy in a long time. I stayed back to help Dad get Yahtzee out of the car. Then all six of us ran for our grandparents. Five ran, Miracle caught a ride on my back as she was still somewhat asleep. The other four started talking over each other about everything they wanted to do while we spent our week in Montana.
Dad pulled out his whistle and blew it hard to quiet everyone down. "Before everyone goes running off in a hundred different directions the cars need unloaded and you need to seperate out your laundry. After that you are free to roam about the countryside."
Grumbles not just from the kids but from the Flack boys, Uncle Don included. He just wanted to sleep. The girls and I didn't have as much work to do because I had sorted out the clothes that needed to be washed last night when we stopped in Cody for the night. I brought down our things to the laundry room and started a load before anyone else. Bella and PJ snuck out and wandered to the barn where Nanna and Poppa kept the three goats, 12 cows and the couple dozen chickens. I was shocked that Bella even went anywhere near the barn.
While I was doing mine and my sisters laundry, Aunt Stella, Mom, Aunt Susan and Nanna Becky were all in the kitchen making dinner. Uncle Richie and his wife Susan were my mom's brother and sister-in-law. They have two boys, who from the sound of running feet and the poor sqawking of the poor chickens, had met DJ and Evan. Eric and Hunter seemed to have disappeared. I have no idea where Poppa is going to pust us all. They don't exactly have a big house.
"Taylor?" Mom called. "Can you go round up your brothers and cousins? Mom wants them to stop harassing the chickens."
"Sure Mom!" I called back. Chasing chickens. Someone let DJ and Evan watch Rocky II with them. Someone being Eric and Hunter. I wandered out of the laundry room and out into the yard between the house and the barn.
"DJ! Evan! Quit chasing those poor chickens!" I yelled to them. "Why don't you get your bat and ball Dad bought you in San Deigo and play some baseball before dinner?"
I always try to discourage bad behavior in my siblings by giving them a better activity to do. Linus and Mark, Uncle Richie's boys were happy to play ball with them. I, of course, got roped into pitching so everyone would have a fair shot at hitting. Everytime DJ stepped up to hit I prayed that he wouldn't hit it towards the house and bust out a window. We got lucky, for once.
Dinner that night was a chaotic mess. The 12 New Yorkers, plus the 6 Montana-ites in a little house was not the best idea I think we've ever had. The ten kids were banished to the drop-clothed living room with our paper plates and plastic utensils. From the kitchen to the living room DJ dropped his plate, Bella spilt her juice, Evan bumped into Linus, who knocked into his brother Mark who also dropped his plate. Eric, Hunter and I just watched as it all happened. The only one of the younger kids not to drop, spill or anything else was Miracle. That's because I had her plate in my hand. She had found Nanna's piano and was already playing. It could be hours before we could pull her off.
The adults were laughing and talking in the kitchen. For the first time since we left New York everything on this trip was finally having some normalcy to it. I could hear Mom telling Nanna Becky that I had chosen Chlesea for my college. I decided that I would show Nanna my photos from prom after dinner. I know she would love to see how the dress turned out.
The next day Uncle Richie brought Linus and Mark out to hang with DJ and Evan. Bella and PJ were hanging out in the house with Nanna Becky, Mom and Aunt Stella. Miracle had finally gotten away from the piano but was back at it by the time I got up. Dad, Poppa Jerry, Uncle Don and Uncle Richie were going fishing by themselves and tomorrow they were going to take the boys. Eric, Hunter and I hopped on the 4-Wheelers and took off for the day. It was nice for the three of us to hang out again. They had finally gotten me back for the "haunting" in New Orleans and we were now even.
We had gone up into the mountains and had found several old mining sites. We found some old rail tracks that led into a tunnel in the side of the mountain. From the looks of things, no one had been here in years. Being the no fear New Yorkers that Eric, Hunter and I were, we grabbed the flashlights from our backpacks and started to walk into the tunnel. We stepped carefully as not to find a loose board or anything we might fall through. Inside the tunnel we found old pick axes, shovels and even a hat that looked older than my dad.
I wandered a bit farther up into the tunnel. Before I knew it I heard a cracking sound and then I was gone. I landed in a heap on the ground about fifty feet or so below where Eric and Hunter were. I tried to stand up but a sharp pain went all through my left leg. Crap.
"Eric! Hunter!" I yelled. "I think I broke my leg!"
"Taye! We're going to head back to the house to get Pops. We'll be back soon!" Eric yelled down to me.
"While you're there could you bring me back a slice of Ray's?" I teased.
"Only Taylor Messer can think of pizza when she's fifty feet underground," I heard Hunter say.
"At least drop my bag down here. Maybe I can get a cell signal."
"Yeah right Taye! We haven't had a signal since we got out of Idaho. Sit tight. We'll be back soon."
By the time the boys got back to the house, Dad, Uncle Don and Richie and Poppa were back from fishing. When Poppa heard that I had fallen down a shaft in an old abandoned mine he started laughing so hard, Dad said he was crying.
"Mother like daughter," was all that he said. They took the truck and came back to get me. I was quite cranky and didn't feel like being teased for doing the exact same thing my mother had done many moons ago. Poppa and Dad took me to the closest ER and had my leg X-Rayed. I had broken my leg in two places and my ankle. I was going to spend the rest of my summer vacation in a cast. If you thought I was cranky before, multiply it by infinity, and take it to the depth of forever, and you will still have barely a glimpse of what I'm talking about.
Bella and PJ were delighted to have a new coloring surface. The cast went from my mid-thigh all the way down to my foot. I was moved from the upstairs room down to the living room couch as to be more comfortable. Didn't help any at all.
After I was relocated to the couch, Mom came in. She had a smile on her face and a photo album in her hand. She sat down next to me on the couch. She flipped open the book and showed me an old picture of her. Dad has always said that Miracle and I are spitting images of Mom and I was finally able to see what he meant.
"This was taken the summer I was 13 or 14. I fell through a weak board in exact same mine. In that sense, you truly are my kid."
I hugged Mom and sighed. "You know Taye, it wouldn't take much to stick you on a plane. You can stay with Nonna until we get back."
"Mom even on crutches and in a full leg cast, I can still be of some help to you guys. Besides we're almost done with this loony trip anyway. I can still do almost everything we planned."
"You win. Don't expect us to baby you."
"Oh I am going to milk this as long as I can."
Yippe! I get to spend the rest of my summer vacation in a cast. Well at least it wasn't DJ this time. Next stop, Chicago! This is going to be interesting.
Miserable and broken,
Taylor Lindsay Messer
