14

So we held a vote. Me and Rodrick voted to turn right, and that's what we did. And when we got to ANOTHER intersection, we voted again, and this time we turned LEFT. We drove into this little town that had two restaurants, and after we voted, we went to one that ended up having the best apple pie I've ever tasted in my life. In fact, it was so good we ordered a SECOND one.

Mom was really pleased with herself for coming up with this new approach and said she was gonna write in to "Family Frolic" and tell THEM about it. The only person who WASN'T having a good time was MANNY, who still seemed upset about the pig. Mom kept the leash on him even while we were eating, to make sure he didn't try and run away again. After lunch, Mom asked me to take Manny to the bathroom, which only had one toilet in it. So I waited outside for him to do his business. Manny was in there for a while, and I started to wonder what was taking him so long.

I finally opened the door, and he was GONE. Luckily, Dad saw Manny through the front window of the restaurant and scooped him up before it was too late. Because if it had been another minute or two, who knows HOW far he would've gotten.

We got back in the van and Mom strapped Manny into his car seat. When we got to a stoplight, everyone agreed that we should go left, and we waited for the light to change. When it turned green, Dad stepped on the gas, but a car came out of nowhere and TOTALLY ran the red light. Dad laid on the horn, but the driver just kept on going. Then another car ran the light, and then ANOTHER. It was like nobody even NOTICED that the light was red.

Dad was getting pretty frustrated, and when he saw a gap between two cars, he put the pedal to the floor and hung a left. We barely squeezed in front of the NEXT car, which ALSO ran the light. When I looked back at the car behind us, I noticed something weird. There was a little flag on either side of the hood.

Mom noticed the flags, too, and she got really upset. She said the vehicles behind us were part of a FUNERAL procession. She explained that during a funeral, cars are allowed to go through red lights on their way from the church to the cemetery so they can all stick together. And now we'd gone and cut off the line of cars. Dad was getting panicky that all the cars behind our van were now following US, and he tried to shake them off our tail by making a few quick turns.