Katherine's Spring Break

Katherine is in Chicago
Waiting to get on a flight
To go back home

She was sent to Chicago
After being delayed in DC
Because the flight from Chicago
Would get her back to New York faster

How strange that it was quicker
To move away from where your desired destination
Than to wait for the direct path

There must be a philosophy there somewhere, she thought

The first year she went away for break
She went to Cabo
And it was dreary
It was so dreary

Oh, it was sunny
And there were lots of parties
But she didn't know anyone
Aside from Nadette
Who she brought along with her
To keep her company

Nadette wound up hitting on some guy
And telling Kat to leave her alone

Twenty minutes she later
She was banging on the sliding glass door
Of the hotel room

Kat regretted getting a room
With a patio

Her sophomore year she went to Vegas
But she went by herself
And wound up marrying some guy
Named Dakota, which apparently
Was back to being a guy's name

They sat at a pool for two days
Until they agreed that the sheen had worn off
Their wedded bliss
And they got an annulment by mail

Kat's Dad took care of the whole thing
From his office
In between conference calls

Last summer was a total bust

She got a lake house in Maine
And spent the entire week
Ignoring the book she was going to read
And just staring off into space

Into Maine space
Which was a particularly drab
Sort of space

This year she just went to visit
Some family in Georgia

To be honest, Kat did not enjoy Spring Break

She did not necessarily enjoy school
But she enjoyed routine
And school was routine
And breaking from routine
Always seemed to have a detrimental
Biological effect on her

The very word 'vacation'
Often caused her
To develop a headache

Perhaps it was because
She did not come from a close family
And so her friends at school were her family
Meaning Nadette would be her drunken aunt
And she did not like her family/friends
Being spread out all over the world
For an entire week

It seemed dangerous to her

She didn't even want to think
About how she would feel
When graduation rolled around

The trouble was
Though she could afford
To go anywhere she wanted
She always wanted to go somewhere
With people she loved

What fun was there gambling in Vegas
Or sitting on a beach in Mexico
Or jetting off to Paris
If you couldn't have everybody you loved
There with you?

Oh sure, she could bring Nadette again
But it wasn't the same
To just bring one or two people

Vacations are when you're supposed to have
The most wonderful moments of your life
And so you start to look at the rest of your life
Which, for the most part, is not made up of vacations
As being some long, tedious enterprise
Filled with people who were not 'vacation' people

Some people spent their entire lives
Telling the people they see every day
What they did 'on vacation'

They bring up one week over and over again
Because it's all they have to hang onto

God, Kat thought, when did I become so morbid?

She got ready to board her flight
And at the last minute
She started walking in the other direction
Towards another terminal

Her father was in Los Angeles
Not the most exciting place
But it was where he was
And she wanted to see him

She decided she was going to go to corporate
And walk right into his office

And when he'd ask her
Why she wasn't in Georgia
On break

She'd say--

"Oh Daddy, the last thing I need right now--is a break."