021. Vacation
Characters: the Johnson family
Genre: Family
Rating: K
Time Period: Big =12, Tall = 10, Curly = 9, Little = 5

Little Johnson has an Adventure

Little Johnson often felt very very confused by his family. Since they were all incredibly strange and really didn't make any sense to him… They all enjoyed being so noisy, after all. Little had never understood that, although then again, it seemed like everybody in the entire world liked being noisy. Mama would sometimes take him to places like the mall with his big brothers and he'd be surrounded by all sorts of loud people and it was really hard to get away from them all.

And then Mama always got upset when he went away to find somewhere to hide. Usually the book store, since it was nice and quiet and they had lots of books with pictures that he could look at.

His bigger brothers were the ones who were the noisiest, though. And it was very very hard to hide from them, especially since Mama and Papa didn't seem to like it when he stayed in his room and played with his toys by himself. They'd sometimes come into his room and ask him why he wasn't playing with his brothers. And then Papa would usually pick him up and carry him into the other room to play with Curly and Tall and sometimes Big.

…And then Curly would be loud and excited and want him to play lots of games with him. Often involving water guns.

Anyway, so Little Johnson didn't really understand his family. And this last week had just cemented that confusion. Since Mama and Papa had spent most of the week running all over the place, putting lots of their clothes and toys into big bags… Mama had even come into his room and taken some of his books away, telling him that they were going on 'vacation'.

'Vacation' had so far consisted of him being buckled into his car seat with a little baggie of crackers and a sippy-cup of apple juice, Big sitting next to him. And Tall and Curly had been in the backseat, where they proceeded to spend most of the car ride fighting… At least until Papa had told them that they were going to have to stay home alone if they didn't stop.

And they'd been in the car for lots of days, too. Except for at night, when they'd sleep in buildings with lots of rooms with beds in them.

And today they were standing over a really really really big hole in the ground.

…That seemed like a lot of work just to go see a big hole.

"Beautiful, ain't it, kids? One of the seven natural wonders of the world!"

Little glanced up toward Papa, who was now looking out at the big hole with a huge smile on his face. Obviously very excited to go see such a big hole. And Big was standing near the railing, taking lots and lots of pictures with the camera that Mama and Papa had given him. They'd also given Tall and Curly one too, although Curly had already used up all his pictures because he liked taking pictures of the lizards and bugs and snakes that they saw.

A few feet away, Mama was holding onto Curly with one hand and Tall with the other, not looking very happy with them. Probably because Curly had just tried to climb up onto the railing so he could see the big hole better.

"What do you think, Li'l?" And now Papa was staring down at him, still smiling. "You like the Grand Canyon?"

Hm, so apparently the big hole in the ground had a name. He stared out at it for a few more seconds, and then nodded once. Not that he understood why they were here, but Papa seemed to want him to like it.

"The Grand Canyon's 'bout 277 miles long and eighteen miles wide at some parts." Big suddenly remarked from where he was standing on the bottom rung of the railing, taking another picture of the canyon.

"Get down, Big." Papa immediately responded, before he turned back toward Little. "Isn't that cool, Li'l?" He now bent down onto one knee and nodded toward his brother. "Big here's been studyin' the canyon in school, so your Ma and I thought y'all'd like to come see it."

"Look't this, ma!"

And they were interrupted—as they often were—by a shout coming from Curly. Who was standing quite a ways away from the canyon, kneeling down beside something that looked like a bunch of curled up rope.

And Mama looked up at that. She was currently holding Tall's foot in her hands, and since Tall was crying Little assumed that he must have hurt himself. Or he was pretending to have hurt himself… Tall did that a lot too.

"What?"

Curly looked up, a huge grin on his face. "I found a snake, Ma! And it's got a funny-lookin' thing on its tail!"

And Little had never seen his Papa and Mama move that fast before. Mama immediately jumped to her feet, knocking over Tall who started crying harder. And Papa jumped up and started running as fast as he could toward Curly. He even managed to reach him first, grabbed him under the arms, and pulled him backwards away from the ropey-thing that was apparently a snake.

"Curls!" And Big jumped down from the railing and ran toward them too.

Leaving Little standing there all by himself and Tall sitting in the dirt and crying even harder, probably trying to get Mama to pay attention to him again.

...It was all very very loud. Tall crying and Mama and Papa were both yelling at Curly and telling him that he wasn't supposed to play with snakes. And he really didn't like it when people were being so loud.

Which was why he started slowly backing away from the chaos. Because maybe he could find somewhere quiet to hide, like he did in the mall. Although he wasn't sure where he could go, since there weren't any stores with lots of books out here. Just a big hole in the ground and lots of people with cameras.

Although at least they ignored him as they pressed against the railings and took lots of pictures of the big canyon, not noticing as he walked around their groups.

Or most of them did... He hadn't managed to walk very far before a pair of legs suddenly stopped in front of him and a very loud voice called down, "Hey there, kiddo! You lost?"

Little didn't understand why grown-ups always asked him if he was lost when he went to go find somewhere to hide from all the loud people. Mama always knew where to find him, so he couldn't be lost.

The big man now knelt down in front of him, though, flashing him a big smile. Like most grown-ups did when they thought he was lost. "Did you lose your parents?"

He didn't respond. Instead, he just stared up at the man, who was just looking back at him.

"Do you know where your Mommy is?" The big man had now reached into his pocket and pulled out a black thing that he now pushed a button on and held to his mouth. "I've found a kid here, probably about four or five. I'm gonna see if I can find his parents; send me a call me if they come to the station."

It was like Curly's walky-talky, except his was yellow and blue and he'd broken it last week when he dropped it out of a tree that he decided to climb.

"What's your name?"

Little didn't answer for a moment. And then, "Johnson."

"And what's your first name, kiddo?"

...He just stared up at the big man, who now wasn't smiling quite as brightly.

Grown-ups always asked such strange questions. The man that Mama and Papa sometimes took him to—the one with the funny hair who had lots and lots of toys to play with in his room—had asked him that question too. And then had talked to Mama and Papa for a long long time while the lady at the desk, the one who had an outfit with doggies on it, had let him colour pictures.

"Well, why don't you and I go look for your Mommy and Daddy?"

The big man didn't say anything else for a minute. Instead, he just stared at him while Little stared back. Then he stood and reached a hand down toward him. "You're not very talkative, are you?"

Grown-ups said that a lot too...

The man took his hand after a few moments and began leading him away, in the opposite direction of where Mama and Papa and his big brothers were.

He followed anyway. After all, Mama always found him when he went away from her. Although, he really wished the big man hadn't decided to grab his hand, since he didn't like it when people grabbed him. Especially since the big man's hand was all wet and slimy...

Oh well, he knew Mama would come soon. And then she'd probably yell at him and then give him hugs like she always did when she came to find him after he wandered away to find somewhere quiet.

"And if we can't find your parents in a little bit, I can take you back to the centre. I'll bet that Ellie'll have plenty of toys and snacks for you."

And he might even get snacks and toys before she found him...

A/N: Oh, little Little Johnson... I find it amusing how if he were an only child, he'd be the easiest baby ever. But since he's not, he ends up being the little troublemaker who runs away all the time. And I'm pretty sure giving him snacks and toys when he runs away is positive reinforcement for a negative action... Which is probably not very good.

...I feel like I've almost shown all of the main characters as a little kid at this point. Except for Leon. And you will see little Leon eventually. Because he's adorable and snuggable.

Sorry I haven't been writing the chaptered stories recently. I just have mega writer's block for like all of them right now :( Sad face. And haven't really been in the mood to write since it's been one of those weeks... On the plus side, though, I have gotten very far in Kingdom Hearts and have officially established that this game is kind of superly awesome. Even if it took me two hours to get past one of the boss battles. Because I am simultaneously not very good at this game and also ridiculously stubborn and refused to give up until I defeated it.

Umm, in other news... This chapter was Prussia-chan's fault, since we were talking last night on facebook and she said that there was something on TV about the "Johnson Family Vacation" which led to a very long conversation about Johnson and his siblings... While I was actually fighting said two hour long Kingdom Hearts boss battle. ;D Plus we had a discussion before about how Johnson is such a typical youngest sibling, so yeah... Blame her.

Next one of these is Mother Nature.