“Just look!” she said. “Isn’t this amazing?”
He was studying his phone. “I can’t get a signal, Mom. This is stupid.”
She hadn’t told him that she put a temporary hold on his phone plan while they travelled. God only knew how much he would run up in charges.
“C’mon, look,” she said again. “It’s so beautiful. You’ll never see anything like this in Binghamton.”
Binghamton, New York. A city well past its glory days. Gone was the IBM plant. Gone were the shoe factories. Gone were all the manufacturing jobs that had drawn people there a century before.
Gone, too, were many of the historic old buildings. The upkeep and repair was too much. Gone.
Now they were on a European tour. She hoped it would open his eyes.
“Put your phone away,” she said. “Look.”
He slid his phone into his back pocket and looked. “The streets are too narrow, Mom. I don’t like it.”
“But it’s so –” she started to say.
“It’s claustrophobic, Mom,” he interrupted. “And I haven’t seen a single pickup truck. Just those stupid clown cars that are too tiny. I’m amazed people can fold themselves small enough to fit inside.”
She sighed. Pickup trucks and beer, she thought and shook her head.
He sighed too, and thought, Pickup trucks, beer, and weed. What I wouldn’t give for a little right now.
“Let’s walk down this street,” she said.
He pulled out his phone and looked at it. “I still don’t have a signal.”
This is my submission to the Unicorn Challenge. It’s a simple challenge — no more than 250 words and use the photo for a prompt.
Thankfully, this was NOT my experience when I traveled (pre-COVID) with my children. I do think that travel is the best way to open people’s eyes.
Hot Dogs and Marmalade 
Mothers and sons, eh?
I can almost hear him sighing and see him rolling his eyes as he drags his feet after his mother, you bring it all to life.
And manage to include an incisive comment on the decline of the manufacturing industries in big cities as well.
Nicely crafted slice of life, Sally.
I’m so glad this was fiction! It did sound so very plausible though! Excellent job Sally!
This was so very real, Sally! Fabulous tale! š
Very nicely done, Sally.
I feel sad for the mom, but also the son who will someday regret not setting aside his phone and enjoying the trip. Nicely written!
I cannot tell you how thrilled a post like this makes me that I am old and was born in the days before all of this technology, no matter how much I enjoy it. It seems we had so many more opportunities to really experience things then. Ans when we experienced, we were present, not fretting over a mobile connection. Excellent write!
As the mother of only sons (although it’s probably not that different with daughters), let me say “I hear ya loud and clear, sister!” Great, fun write, Sally.