Maggie kept burping grape Nehi and I couldn’t stop giggling. I tried holding my hand over my mouth so that it sounded more like a silent huff of wind, but then Maggie belched a trickle of purple from her nose,giggles gurgled out the side of my hand and turned into a bellow of laughter. We were at the drive in with our father who wonder of wonders had taken us to see Pollyanna A movie I am sure that he could of done without. He may of been drunk, he did seem more agreeable than usual, but we hardly noticed. We had never been to the drive in before and it was new and exciting. We wouldn’t of been there but it was summer vacation, and mother was yet again at the hospital having another baby. I suppose father was tired of all that because here we were and there she was.

“Whats so funny?” He turned around and asked. Maggie looked up took the back of her hand and wiped the purple away. Then hiccuped loud.

“Look under the seat you might find something to stop all those stomach noises.” He winked.

We hadn’t seen him put anything in the car except for a couple of pillows and a blanket. He had insisted that we would never be able to stay awake past nine o’clock. Ordinarily he would of been right. Mother had strict rules about bedtimes. But the sight of Hayley Mills larger than life in front of us kept us awake. Maggie poked her hand under the driver side seat and pulled out a bag of chips and some licorice. I reached under the passenger side and found a bag of popcorn and some orange soda. We were amazed that he had done all this. Father worked shift work at the mill. He had become the known as the man we tiptoed around who slept on the couch. Yet here he was feeding us junk food, letting us stay up late and taking us to see a movie that he probably detested. The drive in was pretty empty except for a scattered shiny car here and there. I wondered what it would be like to be able to go here every week and watch every movie, but I dismissed the idea quickly when I thought of poor mother having a child every time the bill board changed.

“When is mom and the baby coming home? I asked.

“Soon enough. Now you two must do me a really big favor.” He looked at us with a serious stare.

“What?” We asked in a duet of voice.

“You must not tell your mother, this can be our secret. I don’t want her to think we had a good time without her. Promise me that. “

It was a hard promise to make all this newness and no one to tell. But we crossed our fingers and made an oath to never tell her about our summer vacation trip to drive in movies.