I’m on a trip to California this week. I left Sunday afternoon. As I was doing the final packing to get in the car, Mom was packing up Charles and Corwin. Charles was happy, because he likes to ride in the car. Corwin was not as thrilled. His primary question was “Why can’t Daddy just take the van?” so that Corwin could stay home. I did what I could to get Corwin to miss me — he had bought me a new computer game for my birthday so I told him that I wouldn’t be able to play it for him to watch until I got back. Unfortunately, Corwin saw it as Dad being arbitrary instead of pining away for my return.
At the airport, Mom, Charles and Corwin waited downstair while I checked in and then we went up the escalator to the security checkpoint. Corwin was unhappy about going all the way up, but we told him that he had to come along regardles. I did get a hug from Corwin after only a small amount of wheedling by Mom. As soon as I was through the checkpoint Corwin was off to the gift shop. Ah well. But after a few days of no Dad to help get him through the hard spots of Harry Potter, perhaps he’ll think differently.