(fictional story about fictional characters)
(Although part of a series, each Reminisces story is a "stand alone" entry that explores possible adventures from Penny's past.)
As soon as Penny flipped the page on the calendar attached to the refrigerator by magnets, she smiled at the red circle around Labor Day weekend and the word "TRIP" that was underlined. She vividly recalled when Leonard had written it. It had been the previous December when they had received his brother's annual Christmas letter, describing all of his family's accomplishments during the previous year...and they were numerous and impressive. He had immediately fallen into a deep depression because the letter reminded him of how much his mother had favored his siblings and virtually ignored him, basically all his life. She opened the letter and began to read as Leonard commented: "let me guess; he's been nominated for a Nobel prize and he got the kids a pony for Christmas."
"Close," she told him, "he tried a case before the Supreme Court and the kids are taking riding lessons so they can compete in equestrian trials for the junior Olympics...pretty impressive stuff."
"Aaarrgh," he screamed, and Penny could read his mind. His mother had never showed him any love and actually used him in her child-psychology experiments. Penny knew that he would never truly lose the mental scars of inferiority that Beverly had inflicted on him.
She felt so sorry for her man that she tried to soothe the wounds by saying: "why do you care so much...our life is totally great...I'm so happy to be married with you."
"I know it is," he replied in an anguished tone, "you know there is no where I would rather be than with you...I'm totally content with our life...that's not what I mean. It's just that we've been married a couple years now and it seems like we haven't advanced; like we're stuck in the same place." He took the letter from her and as he read, he continued: "you see...they went to Europe for the Summer...la dee da. We went to the movies. Aren't there things you would like to do?"
"I guess," she answered, "you know we've never taken a real trip together."
"See...that's what I'm talking about...let's do that. Didn't we go someplace last Memorial Day," he asked.
"No," she told him, "that was the time we talked about going to the beach; what about the Fourth of July?"
"Nope," he answered, "that was when we thought about going to the mountains. That's the great thing about California; on any given weekend you can almost go to the beach or the mountains and it's only a couple hours drive."
"Well next year let's actually do it," she declared and grabbed the new calendar off the kitchen island where it had been thrown. On the three major holidays of the Summer, she wrote the word "TRIP" so that they wouldn't forget. They had blown-off the first two and now it was down to Labor Day. Eager to avoid another end-of-year let down, she immediately began to call hotels on Catalina Island, hoping for a vacancy at such a late date. No such luck...not even on Priceline or Travelocity. Persevering, she decided to try the mountains, and remembered Bernadette and Howard mentioning a place called Big Bear Lake.
Luck was with her, and on her third call the proprietor told her that less than ten minutes earlier, someone had cancelled their cabin reservation. Not even inquiring about the rates, she began to read him her credit card number. When Leonard came home from the university, she met him at the door with a huge grin plastered across her face. "If this is your Cheshire Cat impression," he stated, "you nailed it. OK, what's up?"
"Well, thanks to me; this year when you try to write a Christmas letter to upstage your brother, you'll be able to jot down something more exciting than "still married" and "still employed."
He stopped dead in his tracks, dropped his laptop bag and swept her up in his arms. "Oh my God...you're pregnant," he yelled.
"Whoa there sailor," she told him, "I'm smiling aren't I." He looked puzzled as he stepped back and she continued: "no...not pregnant...not stretching out this body...not yet anyway. We're going to the mountains next weekend." Pointing to the calendar, she added: "we're taking a trip!"
"We're really going to do it...take a trip...to the mountains. You mean like with a forest and mosquitos and stuff," he asked.
"Yes...with a forest and trees, and a lake for swimming," she told him excitedly; "and we have our own private cabin in the woods,"
"You know what Sheldon would say: 'have you seen Cabin In the Woods," Leonard reminded her.
"Yeah, yeah," she scoffed, "and when we were thinking of going to the beach: which was my first choice, by the way; he asked if we'd seen Jaws. You're missing my point, my little Ewok; we have our own PRIVATE cabin; and all this," as she ran her hands up and down her body; "which means you can scream as loud as you want...and trust me, there will be screaming. Oh, and I checked...it has wi-fi."