Copyright Annette Holland 1996

This is the story of Henrietta (the mom), Harry and Grace (the children), and a bit-player stepfather . Alas, Harry and Grace get in the way of their mother's happiness....

"Oh boy, do you mean it? We're going to Disney WORLD?"

"Not Disneyland Park? You didn't get them confused, did you, Mom?"

Ever since our mother had married our stepfather we hadn't done anything fun. He always said that there wasn't enough money and she always agreed with him. And here we were, taking this mega-expensive trip to one of the coolest places in the world, and it wasn't even our birthday or anything. We should have known something was up.

"Yes children. I've scrounged and saved for months now. It was your dad's idea."

"He's not my dad," I mumbled under my breath, too scared to ruin this wondrous moment.

"We'll be flying there this weekend and we're going to spend a whole week there. Aren't you excited?"

"YES!!!!!" we yelled.

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One Week Later

We arrived without a hitch, got to the hotel, dumped our stuff and then dragged our mom and stepdad out the door looking for the quickest route to Disneyworld. Once there we wanted to ride everything. Our usually over-protective mother let us run wild. Our stepdad just grinned. We had never seen an expression like that on his face before, but at the time, it didn't bother us.

Soon we were lost. We hadn't imagined the park to be as huge as it was. For two ten - year - olds, Disneyworld can be as menacing as a deep, dark forest when you've lost your parents and can't find Mickey Mouse or Goofy to tell you how to get back to your hotel. Uh-oh, where was our hotel? What was the name of our hotel?

"Grace, do you know where we're staying?"

"No, I thought mom gave you all the important information, she always does."

"I don't remember..."

"Do you know how to get to the front gate? They should be able to help us there," Grace said with a little catch in her voice.

"No, I don't even know where we are in the park, Mom had the map the last time I looked at it." Now I was getting scared. It was getting pretty dark and our mother hadn't paged for us or anything. Where was she?

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Five Days Later On the Santa Monica Pier Los Angeles Times -- Two Children Wander Out of Disneyworld Dazed and Confused, "Where's Mom?" They Ask.

"AP - Two young children were found last night in the Epcot Center of Disneyworld huddled together and looking like refugees from a Third World country. Suffering from malnutrition and dehydration, the children say that they have been in the park for at least a week looking for their mother...."

"Drat! they got out," said Henrietta.

The End