Journey to Mexico: That's the Ticket

By Schatze Funk

Kim takes that "once in a lifetime opportunity" to travel with her new
neighbor, Lucia, to her homeland to visit her family for a few weeks.
The women encounter everything on this trip including terrible mishaps,
exciting fun and sometimes scary situations. They take their kids along
and this makes it all the merrier until the trouble starts. This is an
unbelievable adventure for Kim who is a small, hometown girl from
Wisconsin. She does question why she went. At the end of the story
she knows the answer however.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Nov 21, 2012
• ISBN: 9781479735969

Schatze Funk

Schatze Funk is a mother of two teenage boys, works as a speech therapist in a local public school and enjoys traveling when able. She grew up on a small farm in WI, has a large family and attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Schatze loves working with children, spending time outside such as hiking and gardening, watching all sports (especially hockey), eating good ethnic food and listening to great music. She hopes her next adventures include traveling to Eastern Europe, learning new languages and making even more friends. She'd love to write more books too.

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Copyright © 2012 by Schatze Funk.

ISBN:

Softcover   978-1-4797-3595-2

Ebook        978-1-4797-3596-9

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

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120919

Mom… . Mom… . MOM! yelled Christopher, running in the house dragging his nearly worn out hockey stick behind him. Mom, you are going to freak out! Kim ran up the steps from the basement carrying a large arm load of dried clothes in fear that someone took a shot to the face because the boys from the neighborhood were playing street hockey with him.

What? she asked winded from the jaunt. Throwing the basket onto the kitchen counter she got down on her knees to look him in the eyes. He was grinning ear to ear. No broken nose or loose teeth. She was thankful for that she thought as she closed her eyes.

Upon opening them she asked what was up. Christopher beamed and said, We have new neighbors and I already went over to say hi and they have three kids and two dogs and there is a huge truck in the driveway and… Stop! yelled Kim. One sentence at a time, please; you know I’m getting old and hard of hearing" she said half laughing.

There is a new family in the house next door. They have three kids. They have two dogs. You should see all their stuff! Come say hi to them because I already did he pleaded as he jumped up and down. Being seven he could not stand still to clearly communicate his thoughts.

She couldn’t help but think of all the issues there had been with keeping neighbors in that house since they moved into their current home in July of 1998. Whether that house was haunted or something she didn’t know. The one thing she did know however was that they lived in a tight knit neighborhood. What a nice quiet street it had been.

The small suburb of Green Bay WI was as sedate as towns go. A population of 2,000 boasted amazing ethnic restaurants, ice rinks galore and little specialty shops that sold everything from Amish Furniture to handmade jewelry. The high school served as the hub of the town. Street parties and pool parties were common throughout the community, especially on her cul-du-sac. It was easy to appreciate the Catholic Church behind her house too because it was quiet 6 days a week there. A sidewalk for the church ran between her house and the new neighbor’s house so people from the subdivision could walk to church more easily than going around the long block. The house next door was a ranch style similar to hers with a huge blue in-ground pool that looked tempting to jump into every summer. That house had sat empty for the last three years. Its sad how several families had moved in and out over the past 12 years she thought.

Suddenly she woke from her thoughts, hearing the deep beat of Mexican music thumping away loudly outside of her house as the patio door was open for some fresh air. She wanted to be the first to welcome them so she grabbed one of her new bottles of wine in the metal rack that she saved for guest visits. Here we go she said out loud following Chris out the door. Hearing someone running up behind her she turned to pick up her two year old son Noah. He did not like being left alone and was still attached to her at the hip.

Two men stood on a ramp to the moving van drinking sodas from cans and they appeared very sweaty. It was an uncharacteristically hot day in the middle of April. The temperature gauge said 84 degrees but it felt like 100 because it was so humid out.

Hi and welcome to the neighborhood, Kim said shaking their hands as she held Noah on one hip. Hello, nice to meet you, said Roberto with a thick accent after yelling to a woman he called Lucia. She stopped as she stepped across the threshold carrying a small box into the house. Hi, she yelled waving. She set the box down on the porch and jogged back to the truck. Leaning forward she gave Kim and Noah a warm hug. A man they called Joe stood by silently nodding hello to her during the interaction. She introduced her children as they exited the house. The oldest was a boy named Ricky. He was 8. His sister Sara was 5 and little Maria was 3.

Similar to my boys in age thought Kim looking at them. Thank goodness my boys have kids more their age to play with now she said because most of the neighborhood kids were all 2-5 years older than Chris. The neighborhood kids were nice kids had nice families and gladly let Chris tag along as they played sports and biked around but these new kids were closer to their age she thought.

Kim invited them all over for a snack of cheese, crackers, summer sausage, veggies and fruit later in the afternoon. The typical platter of cheese, crackers and sausage is usually given to guests visiting friends and family in Wisconsin and she added healthier options because she was a bit of a health nut herself. After talking for about half an hour Roberto explained he needed to return the rented moving van before late evening. Kim invited the kids to stay and play in the back yard so Roberto and Lucia could get some household necessities completed.

Walking them over later in the day she found many of the rooms unpacked and nicely arranged. Entering through the living room and heading off to the right she heard Lucia calling her name. She had just put sheets on small beds in a room it looked like the girls would share seeing the wooden bunk beds.

Let’s sit outside and have a beer, Lucia had said. I’m tired and sweaty and need to talk to my own kind she said jokingly. It must have been a long day or two working with only men who moved everything across the city with her Kim commented to herself as she giggled. Gladly! Kim announced as she moved to the wooden deck surrounding half of the beautiful blue pool. Do you like Mexican beer? inquired Lucia handing her a cold bottle. I most certainly do, replied Kim. They sat outside for at least two hours talking and watching the sun set over the church until the children hollered they were starving.

Lucia invited Kim back the following day for the same and she was happy to hear her reply affirmatively. We are lucky to have found this house, so blessed to find this house and our new neighbors, Lucia said out loud to herself as she got ready for bed that night. She knew there were children in the neighborhood when they had first toured the area with their realtor because she had seen skateboards, bikes and basketball hoops in various yards.

Roberto, Kim and the boys are coming over for lunch tomorrow. She is a teacher and we can get to know each other really good this summer because she will not be working she said as she shut off the faucet. Roberto sat on the bed switching channels on the flat screen TV he had just mounted on the wall between two floor to ceiling windows in the master bedroom that overlooked the pool. He mumbled, Sure, sounds good as he sat staring straight ahead at the baseball game.

Lucia sat in the kitchen drinking coffee the next morning after he went to work and before the kids woke up. She thought about how it would be a big adjustment having a three bedroom house with a big yard and pool now. Coming from a small two bedroom upper apartment with a galley kitchen this new house was such a blessing. How lucky they had been to find this bank owned house for such a reasonable price. The previous owners had lost it to foreclosure when a large area business the couple had worked for closed and they couldn’t pay the mortgage anymore. Paying cash was even more rewarding though thought Lucia as they had worked for ten years to save diligently for this moment to acquire a permanent home for her children in the US. Lucia continued to estimate how much of their savings was left for other things they wanted to get in her head as the children rose asking for food and chocolate leche.

Switching from speaking Spanish to English was still difficult for her at times despite living in the US for 9 years so she had to think how to reply to their individual requests as she poured another cup of coffee. Taking English classes had been helpful but because the only people she usually spoke English to were the kids, who spoke little Spanish, it was slow in coming. Her friends all used their native language so unless she was at class it was difficult. Not having a job at the moment meant it was not necessary at other times. As she made breakfasts and poured milk she thought how much easier it would be to have an English speaking neighbor to practice with frequently.

Kim arrived about 10 am and stayed until later that day. Having much iced tea and tacos was very filling so they both didn’t think about what to make for dinner that Sunday afternoon. They sat on Lucia’s deck for most of the day. Conversation flowed easily. Lucia had commented on how she appreciated Kim’s patience with her in speaking English.

Roberto spent the day at their previous apartment cleaning and finishing up moving some other boxes. They had the day to themselves.

Watching the workers from the pool company who came to open the pool, Kim was not surprised that they had come faster for this house than other area homes in response to a service call. The owners of the local pool company were her neighbors on the other side of