Doughnuts and Zucchini Are Not Interchangeable

Scott, Kerry, and Kelsey settled into the back seat of the family's Astro van. They were all getting ready for the trip to New York. Christa had decided that it was time for her to visit her good friend, Martha. Martha and her husband Jim were living in New York with their eight children Tisharia, Lolly, Christina, Jimmy, Daniel, Maryanna, and Lydia. The Henning kids were really excited for the trip. Trips away from the farm were rare and it was always a toss-up who would get to go since there always had to be enough people left on the farm to take care of the cows. 

Scott claimed the back back seat, while Kerry took up residence in the center seat. Kelsey took shotgun where she would act as the D.J. and occasional navigator. Christa climbed into the passenger seat clutching her purse and a used business envelope that contained her husband's handwritten directions. Dale had spent a significant portion of his life as a truck driver and was practically a walking atlas.(For the younger generations, an atlas was kind of like a GPS except it was a paper map that required a certain amount of skill and common sense to use as all the recalculating was done by the driver.) He also didn't see that point of tossing a used envelope when there was still a perfectly good side left.

“Okay, kids,” Christa declared confidently. “We're ready to go.”

She backed out of the parking spot and took off down the long gravel driveway. Kelsey picked up a large CD case off the floor and paged through the contents looking for the first installment of the trip soundtrack. She pulled a Michael Card CD out of the plastic sleeve and slid it into the CD player and settled into her seat as the music began.

Scott settled into the back seat with a book and a bag of snacks. The ride to New York was largely uneventful. 

After a few hours, they finally got close enough to their destination that in was impossible for the children to remain immersed in their various activities. After all, they weren't in little Paris, Ohio anymore. They looked out the window and were surprised to find their surroundings to be strikingly similar to the towns they roamed back home. There were no skyscrapers or traffic jams. They weren't sharing the road with flocks of yellow taxis carrying rushed commuters. They were just in a regular old city with regular old stores.

The three kids looked at each other with obvious confusion. They had not expected to drive for hours just to end up somewhere that looked a lot like Ohio. However, due to their mutual desire to avoid looking silly, they kept their confusion to themselves and waited to see what would happen.

“Hmm,” their mother mused from the driver's seat. “We should stop and pick up a treat. What do you think?”

Her passengers eagerly agreed in the hopes that the treat to which their mother referred might be something of the overly sweet variety that they enjoyed on a rather limited basis. 

“I think I saw a sign for a Dunkin' Donuts,” Christa continued. “Where is that doughnut shop?”

She drove down the unfamiliar street until she arrived at the doughnut shop. Unfortunately, it was more than obvious that the Dunkin' Donuts location in question was closed down for remodeling. 

“Well,” Christa sighed. “I guess we'll be showing up at Martha's house empty handed.”

The children grumbled under their breath in disappointment as the van was guided out of the city and into the countryside. Just as the children had settled into their various distractions, the van pulled off the road into a small gravel parking area.

“Are we here?” Scott questioned from the back seat.

“No dear,” his mother responded with a smile. “I saw a farmer's vegetable stand and I though I would check to see what they have, since we couldn't get doughnuts.

“I doubt there's going to be a good doughnut replacement at a vegetable stand,” Scott muttered as his mother got out of the car.

The three children waited in the car while Christa perused the merchandise. A few moments later, she climbed back into the van and placed a large paper bag on the floor in between the front seats.

 

“What did you get, mom?” Kelsey asked as she peered into the paper bag.

“I got zucchini,” Christa replied with obvious excitement. “There was a ton of it there so I got it for a good price.”

“Really, mom?” Scott clarified from the back seat. “You couldn't get doughnuts so you got zucchini instead? They're not even in the same food group!”

Christa shrugged her shoulders and smiled as she put the vehicle in gear and pulled back onto the road. It only took a few more minutes before the van arrived at it's intended destination. Christa guided the vehicle down a long driveway and parked in front of a large house built in a style reminiscent of Victorian architecture. There was a large tree out front of the house with a rope swing hanging from one of the larger branches. A volleyball net was set up off to the one side of the tree. Various members of the Buckingham family, who were occupying themselves around and inside the house, ran to greet the Hennings as Christa put the car in park.

Christa handed the bag a zucchini to Tisharia who whisked it off to the kitchen before the Henning children could explain that the zucchini was supposed to be doughnuts. The children spent the afternoon playing together. Up until that day, the Henning children were the ones showing the Buckinghams around the Henning home. This was the first time that the Buckingham family had been able to host the Hennings. Jimmy and Daniel showed Scott the woods while Kelsey and Kerry spent the afternoon with the Christina, Maryanna, and Lydia. Tisharia and Lolly spent most of the afternoon with Martha and Christa, preparing dinner.

The call for dinner sounded through the clear summer air. Scott sighed heavily as he braced himself for the large bowl of steamed or fried zucchini that he expected to find waiting for him. It wasn't as if he didn't like zucchini. He actually did. However, this particular zucchini was doomed to be tainted by the reality of the fact that it was supposed to be doughnuts. 

The children filed into the kitchen where the food was served buffet style. Scott dished his plate up as he walked by the table. He reached the end of the line and topped off his plate with a couple of slices of sweet bread that were still hot from the oven. He walked outside and sat on the front porch and looked at his plate.

Wait a minute, he though to himself. I don't see any zucchini.

“Hey Kelsey,” he whispered to his sister. “I thought we were going to have zucchini tonight.”

“We are,” Kelsey responded smugly. “That bread right there is zucchini bread.”

 

“Really?” Scott replied with genuine surprise. “This bread has zucchini in it?”

“Yup,” Kelsey smiled. “Pretty good, huh.”

“You bet,” Scott smiled. “It's almost as good as doughnuts.”

Note from the author: this is the first in a couple of stories highlighting some of the more memorable events of that particular trip to New York. We had such a wonderful time with the Buckinghams it just wasn't fair to try to cram it all into one post.