Otto would be living with his grandma explained his mother and she and his father would be going on a cruise to the Caribbean's. To this proclamation Otto at once bursted into a deluge of tears at the thought that he would never be able to see his mother and father again, it felt like a hour for his parents, but in truth was a little over five minutes for him to stop his wailings and for his mother to explain to him that it would not be a permanent arrangement and that the cruise would only be a week long.
Both reassured the teary-eyed Otto in their own ways, his mother in her usual calm and collected tone, coincidentally the same tone in which one would speak to the mildly retarded, telling him that, no the world was not ending and that he'll be fine, while his father, his ever unbothered father, continued sitting watching the TV confident his wife had the situation under control, something that gave more comfort than words ever would because as long as his father looked and acted like everything was fine, Otto was certain everything would be fine.
Otto now reasonably calm, though still teary eyed was handed an adult size suitcase and told to pack for his trip. Otto began packing with as much enthusiasm as a man on death row eating his last meal.
His mother came into his room as to question the progress of his packing. And to his dismay, packing his suitcase with snacks and drinks was not considered acceptable baggage for a week trip to his grandmas. Fortunately, he had his mother to pack for him. But something that confused him, was that he distinctly remembered his mother saying that he would only be spending one week with his grandmother, but there she was packing triple the amount of clothes needed for one week, furthermore she was packing his toothbrush, toothpaste, his favorite blanket, and a pillow.
He was originally suspicious as to why they were going so early and asking his mother for the reason as to why, she had replied in the monotone voice of all parents who didn't want to be questioned by their, oh so dearest child, "It's for you to know where you'll be living for the week of the cruise, sweetie."
Her logic was sound, or at the very least to his ears, but he still had his misgivings about the extra clothing, voicing them aloud to his mother she replied in a voice dripping with honey and in a telling tone of how much she would rather him just be quiet, "Oh, sweetheartā¦ we areā¦ just going to leave your clothes thereā¦ so we don't have to bring them next time."
Again, her response sounded reasonable, and once again Otto was satisfied with the response, until a stray thought passed through his mind and he decided to vocalize it, "But why bring so much?"
"So, if you get any dirty you will have something to wear silly," her logic was flawless, and Otto started to feel rather silly for doubting his mother, but in his defense the amused looks of his father whenever she'd answer one of his questions did not help his suspicions.
The drive had been long, taking over four hours to achieve. On the final stretch of the journey, they found themselves driving down a long winding road through a forestā¦
Driving up the driveway through a giant iron gate that Otto's father had to get out of the car to open, they saw what Otto could only describe to be a mansion. Of course, he'd never seen a mansion before with the only information he had about them were that they were large, beautiful, and rich people lived in them, but the two story, brick red house seemed worthy of the title mansion.
In Otto's opinion it looked very fancy