Three weeks with my brother - Nicholas Sparks [21]
“Why are they fighting?” Dana might ask.
“I don’t know,” Micah would answer.
“Who started it?” I’d chime in.
“I don’t think grown-ups fight like that. I think they start at the same time.”
“Why don’t they just kiss each other and stop being mad?” Dana fretted.
“I don’t know.”
“Should we say a prayer?”
Micah would nod, and we’d pray and then we’d listen, trying to see if our prayers had been answered. Sometimes they would, sometimes they wouldn’t, but either way, we’d finally force ourselves to lie down again. Staring at the ceiling, we’d watch the shadows, feeling more frightened than we’d ever felt while watching one of my dad’s horror movies.
CHAPTER 5
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
January 22–23
During the days leading up to the trip, my wife and I began shopping for the items I would need to take with me. TCS had requested that we pack everything in a single suitcase, informing us that it was best to prepare for all types of weather. This was easier said than done, considering we were going to be in the Southern Hemisphere in the summer, where temperatures in Australia would probably exceed a hundred degrees, and three hundred miles above the Arctic Circle in the middle of winter, when we finally finished in Norway.
Then there were toiletry items, most of which are easily accessible in the United States, but less so in foreign countries such as Cambodia or Ethiopia, two countries in which the median income was less than $500 a year. In the end, I brought three pairs of pants, three pairs of shorts, and six shirts, in addition to undergarments and everything else I thought I needed. I got a pair of rugged walking shoes made of leather and Gore-Tex.
I’d also made arrangements to rent a satellite phone for use on the trip, but I’d been warned that it wasn’t always dependable. Because of the exotic locations, varying topographies, and the ever-changing position of the satellite overhead, receiving calls would be mostly impossible. And though I would be able to call Cathy, the ever changing time zones and flights would make it difficult to stay in touch on a regular basis. Everything fit into the suitcase and carry-on with room to spare, since I knew I’d be picking up souvenirs along the way.
My workload hadn’t diminished at all—a novel that should already have been delivered was only half completed, and I had no idea where to take the story next. The feeling had begun to haunt me to the point that I couldn’t sleep at night, but I promised Cat that I wasn’t going to work on it. Nonetheless, I slipped a notebook into the suitcase, just in case I changed my mind.
During the last week, I spent as much time as I could with the kids—trying my best to forget the fact that it was only leaving me further behind in my work. Cat and I went out for a farewell dinner the night before my departure. At noon the following day, she drove me to the airport. Though the trip around the world wouldn’t commence until Friday, January 24, my brother and I were flying to Fort Lauderdale two days early, and planned to meet at the airport.
“So this is it,” I said, trying to summon enthusiasm for the trip. Despite my epiphany, I still wasn’t looking forward to going. By then, I suppose, my ambivalence had become a habit.
“You have everything, right?” Cat asked. “Passport, phone, cash . . .”
“Got it all,” I said.
She nodded. “Have a good time,” she said.
“I’ll try.”
“No,” she said patiently, “have a good time.”
I gave her a hug. “I love you, Cat.”
“I love you, too.”
“Kiss the kids for me every night.”
“I will.”
“Try not to work too hard while I’m gone.”
She laughed, about to say the same thing to me. “You owe me for this, you know. You can’t believe