In the Back, Back, Back of the Station Wagon

 In the back, back, back

Of the station wagon

The three sisters

Divide up their kingdom

The eldest agrees

To be gracious

And take the section

Of the back

Closest to the door

Which makes her appear

To be a protective sister

Since all three believe

That at any moment

The door will fly open

And suck the child nearest to it

Out the back

And onto the road

But

What the younger sisters do not know

Is that their older sister

Believes that when the door

Does fly open

She will not be suctioned out

And onto the road

But into the air

Where she will fly

All the way up

To a hot air balloon

Captained by the heroine

Of the books she’s been reading

All summer

Starring the adventurous

Balloon Captain Hot Air Helene

And she will welcome

The nine-year-old girl

And the two of them

Will travel the world

And the stars

Until school starts

And then, obviously

The oldest daughter will have to return home

Because she doesn’t want

To fall behind in her grades

Which are stellar

The middle sister

Takes the side

Closest to the backseat

Where she will hide behind

The towels

That their mother

Dries by spreading them out

All over the car

She tells herself

She is at a bazaar

Where she will covertly

Sneak from stall-to-stall

Looking for a vase

With a snake in it

She will tame the snake

Hypnotizing it

As it attempts to hypnotize her

Once the snake is under her spell

She will bring it to school with her in the Fall

And once she’s known as the Serpent Girl

Everyone will want to sit with her at lunch

And invite her own for sleepovers

And birthday parties

And she’ll wonder if it’s because

They’re trying to get closer to her snake

So they can steal it for themselves

And not because they think she’s so cool

But that is a bridge to cross

At another time

For now, she positions herself

Under the first, damp towel

And notices that it still smells

Like hot sand and crowded beaches

And she wishes that she could wait a little longer

Before traveling into the heart

Of the open-air market

Where she knows

The snake awaits

The youngest sister sits in the middle

Amidst the fold-out chairs

And the cooler

And the red and white plastic beach balls

And the light green plastic shovels

And the electric blue plastic buckets

Still half-full with ocean water

And dark brown mud

Among all the bric-a-brac

And the remnants

From a few hours

By the sea

The youngest sister

Found an old blanket

She hadn’t seen

Since she was a baby

And she wrapped it

Around herself

And from every side of her

There sprung up

A castle

Not made of sand

But of toys

And trinkets

And items from her youth

She walked into the castle

And there was a throne

And on either side of the throne

Were two (smaller) thrones

Where each of her sisters sat

And she took her place

On the tallest throne

And in walked

Every action figure

And doll

And race car

And finally

Her mother and father

Dressed in bathing suits

And sun hats

And suntan lotion

And they all bowed down

As the car hit a speed bump

And all fell to the ground

‘Rise,’ said the youngest sister,

‘There will be more bumps to come

And we must learn to withstand them’

That is, after all,

The fun

Of sitting

In the back

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