On a dark and stormy night, the Lau family was having their dinner as usual when, suddenly, the Mr. Lau announced that during the day at his office, he noticed two new signs on one of the glass doors that led into one of the main hallways. He went on to explain that they said, “Would You?” and “Could You?”
“Well that’s not surprise,” his wife said as she sliced the chicken she was preparing into two perfect halves. It’s Black History Month and those signs are to promote the bus that’s traveling all the way from D.C to Alabama.
“Well I’ll be!” said Mr. Lau, “I just couldn’t figure out exactly what those signs meant! I’ll have to tell my buddies in the office because they were just as confused as I was!”
“I know,” said the youngest daughter, “Those signs were all over my Kindergarten class too, my teacher read us a book about a family that lives in Alabama, I wish I could go on the bus!” she exclaimed.
“Well kids,” Mr. Lau said slowly, “there’s something that I’ve been needing to tell you guys and I feel like you kids are finally old enough to know-“
“Wait, are you sure this is the right time, dear?” Mrs. Lau interjected.
“Yes, I believe so. You kids remember that hallway in my office that you’ve never been allowed to enter? The one with the glass door? Well, the truth is, that hallway is a sort of…” he paused to find the right word, “transporter that will take you anywhere you want in the world. All you have to do is open that glass door with a clear image of where you want to go in your head, and you’re instantly there.”
“Wow!” exclaimed the three children simultaneously.
“Dad, can we please go to Alabama?!” the youngest daughter asked while jumping out of her seat.
“I think it would be nice to go on a little family vacation and learn a little bit about history at the same time,” chipped in Mrs. Lau as she made her way back to the table with hot food.
“Well, why not! We certainly haven’t been on a vacation in a long time! We’ll head out tomorrow!” asserted Mr. Lau as he proceeded to slice his half a chicken breast in half again.
The next day, the family of five woke up early in order to prepare themselves for their big day. Mrs. Lau, as usual, was running late because she had forgotten where she left her stash of makeup. Remembering that she had left it in the cabinet under the bathroom sink, she quickly pulled out her mascara, foundation, brush, and powder and shoved them into her purse so that she could continue to put her makeup on in the car. As soon as they got to the father’s office, the three kids ran ahead of their parents and made their way to the secret hallway whose location was very familiar to them although they had never actually entered it.
“Everyone ready?” Mr. Lau asked as he and his wife made their way to the glass door which was the only thing between them and this magical portal.
“Ready Freddy!” squealed the little girl with utter excitement.
As Mr. Lau opened the door, the remaining family members stepped through the threshold one by one with a clear picture of where their destination was: Alabama.
“Here we go!” the Mr. Lau exclaimed.
A few moments later, the Lau family stared in confusion as they stood amidst a market place. As they surveyed their surroundings, they noticed some beautiful bangles for sale and table upon table of shoes and other little trinkets.
“Are we…” began the father.
“No, we’re not in Alabama…” Mrs. Lau stated with a little bit of fear in her voice.
Before anyone could say anything else, a boy wearing a stripped shirt came up to the family with his motorcycle and began speaking in a foreign language. Not knowing what he was saying, Mr. Lau assumed that the boy was offering them a ride on his motorcycle and shook his head abruptly. Seeing that the boy and the Lau family were lost in translation, a girl wearing a black dress came up to the scenario and realized that the Lau family was foreign and that they spoke English. She introduced herself and said, “Hello and welcome to India! My name is Indira and this is my brother Jamal. Can we help you with anything?”
The Lau family stared in shock as they realized that they were halfway around the world! “Please, just tell us how to get to the nearest airport,” pleaded Mr. Lau. After Indira called a taxi for the lost family, they quickly made arrangements to get back to the United States. On the flight back home, Mr. Lau couldn’t stop thinking about how the hallway had failed to work for them. What had he done wrong? He kept asking himself. Clearly he had failed his family miserably….and then it hit him! Mr. Lau had completely forgotten that his boss had changed the settings on the hallways so that instead of thinking about where one wanted to go, they had to say it out loud. “Come to think about it, I did hear someone say India…” he thought to himself. But who? None of his family members would have ever thought of saying India if their destination was Alabama…
Mr. Lau opened his briefcase and realized that he had been carrying his portable radio with him that day and it just so happened that they were having a special discussion on India! “Well that makes perfect sense! The hallway heard the radio say India and that’s why we were transported there!” Mr. Lau let out a huge sigh of relief. He immediately explained the situation to his family and they all burst out laughing as they finally found some sense into what just happened.
THE END