Carson Goes to Phoenix and Beyond

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One morning when Carson awoke, mommy said they were going to Phoenix. Carson didn't know where on their tiny Island of Sitka Phoenix was, but she was willing to find out. She was NOTHING if not adventurous.

So, she packed her little bag, and put on her walkin' shoes, and waited patiently for mommy and daddy to get ready to go.


The first stop was the airport. Carson began to WONDER if Phoenix WAS on her little Sitka Island! Maybe it wasn't even IN Alaska!?

But very soon she was distracted watching the hustle and bustle on the tarmac below her window perch. She could see lots of activity going on; planes coming and going, long baggage trains coming and going, and people in funny brightly colored vests waving flashlights around. She found it all very fascinating!

Then something even MORE fascinating caught her attention! There was another little person just her size running about in the airport. Could it be? At long last could she have a friend all her own?

She introduced herself and it was "good times" immediately. She and her little friend sat right down for a chat. They looked out the big window at all the planes. They chased each other up and down and between the rows of seats. There was even a good bit of hugging, which Carson wasn't too sure she liked.

The friend had never heard of Phoenix either.

Soon Carson and her friend had to part ways for their mommies were taking them in different directions to get on different planes.

Carson couldn't remember if she'd ever been on a plane before. She wondered what it would be like to sail high up in the white fluffy clouds.


Soon she found out! Mommy held her up to the window and let her watch as the plane dipped up and down, in and out of the marshmallow clouds.

Oh how she wished she could reach out of that window, stick her little finger into one of those marshmallows, and get just an eeensy teensy taste!

After a while Carson tired of looking at the clouds.

Daddy put some round button things in her ears and she heard music. Funny thing, she couldn't see a band or orchestra anywhere on the plane, and yet she could hear them plain as day in her ears. For a while she liked the music and did a "happy dance" to it.

But eventually she grew tired of the noise. She longed for peace and quiet. She longed to get down and run. In fact, she longed for her own little room and her own little bed in her own little house on her beloved Island of Sitka.

Where in the WORLD were they anyway??? Was THIS Phoenix???

Carson began to cry as if her heart would break - - - for she was pretty sure it would.

Mommy tried to comfort her.

Daddy tried to comfort her.

The stewardess brought her a cookie - - - she threw it on the floor.

She wanted her own dinner in her own home and her own bed with her own soft, fuzzy blankies.

Finally the big plane on which they were riding touched down on the ground with lots of bumping and whooshing noise. At LAST she thought, PHOENIX!

But just then she heard a loud voice that said, "Ladies and gentleman, welcome to Seattle."


Seattle??? What was this Seattle business??? And where WAS Seattle?? And would she NEVER get to Phoenix?

Carson was all done being adventurous.

She was NOT a happy camper.

As she was strapped into yet another travel conveyance of some type, the only thing that could console her AT ALL was chewing on the end of her beloved "buhshhh."

Finally she arrived in Phoenix.

But by THIS time, she was OVER Phoenix! She didn't want to smile. She didn't want to play. And she was SURE she would NEVER want to go to Phoenix again!

So, after about a week in Phoenix, mommy said she would take Carson someplace else. Someplace she was SURE to like.

Before Carson could respond, she was whisked away to ANOTHER airport, and put on ANOTHER plane, and flown through ANOTHER bank of marshmallow clouds.


This time when they landed they were in a warm sunny state mommy called Florida.

Mommy and daddy took Carson to a place where there was a huge bathtub full of waves of salty water, big warm rocks on which to climb, and lovely grains of sand in which to dig her toes.

Carson thought she might be in heaven.

She especially liked the dark glasses that made her look like a little monkey.


Best of all, in this Florida state Carson was reunited with her granpaw. She remembered granpaw!!! He was that funny guy who had just been to see her and feed her Cheerios in Sitka a few weeks ago.

Maybe this Florida place was going to all right after all.


Granmaw soon put her to work doing laundry. Carson thought it was a grand game, never realizing she was having to work like a slave.


Granpaw gave her a little squeegee thing and made her clean the shower. Carson didn't KNOW she was working - - - she thought she was painting a great big beautiful picture, so she had the time of her life.

But Carson made up her mind to ONE thing for sure and certain. She was NEVER again going to get on an airplane as long as she lived!

To get back to Sitka she was going to ride her rock-a-bikey thingy.

All the way.

She would NOT get on another plane!!

Or would she?????

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