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Episode 6: A Trip to the City
With some nice, helpful suggestions from a couple readers comes the next story in the series. Today Hannah somehow avoids getting any hiccups in the story, but there's enough of them coming from a couple other people to make up for it. By the way, all the details of the state capitol they visit are real. If you're an extreme history nerd, try figuring out which one they're in. --The Author
The Beloit kids were excited. They were going on a trip to the city! It was really just a long weekend, but still, it was going to be fun. Mr. Beloit was going to a business meeting in a large, luxurious hotel, so he had decided to take his family along with him. Best of all, Hannah and Juliana were going, too. Since his tearful change of heart not too long ago, Juliana's father had kept his word and was indeed trying his best to be a good father to his girl. He actually would have gone with them, but he had other things he needed to do. But he was still more than happy to let Juliana go. Getting Hannah's father to agree had been a little harder, but Mrs. Beloit had somehow convinced him that this was necessary for her education - after all, they were going to stop at the state capitol building.
As you can imagine, on the morning of their departure, everyone was busy with last-minute packing. Hannah and Juliana were packing their stuff together at Juliana's house, while the Beloits enjoyed a quick, early breakfast and then each headed off to their rooms to finish getting ready to go.
Eighteen-year-old Sarah sleepily stood in her room, wondering what she was forgetting. It was much too early in the morning to remember what she would need for a weekend! She couldn't think of anything, so she opened her closet to find something to wear for the day. When she realized that she didn't know what the weather was supposed to be like, she opened her door and called out to her father, "Hey Dad, what's the weather going to be?"
He answered from the master bedroom, "Uh, pretty warm; you might want to take something other than shorts, but it's not supposed to be too cold."
Sarah tended to get cold rather easily, so she decided she would wear long pants. "Thanks, Dad," she said as she closed the door. And no sooner had the words left her mouth than a sharp hiccup followed them. It definitely caught her attention. Standing with her hand still on the doorknob, she waited for another one - and not more than a few seconds later, another one came. And then another; and another. "Oh goody," she giggled, "Now I've got the hiccups!"
Whereas Juliana loathed every minute that she had the hiccups herself, Chris was dreadfully embarrassed whenever he had them, and Hannah usually seemed to hardly notice her own frequent cases, Sarah absolutely loved having the hiccups. She had no idea why; and she found nothing special about other people's hiccups. But she was thrilled whenever she had them, and being the cheerful, easygoing girl that she was, she found no reason to hide that fact.
But hiccups or no hiccups, she still needed to get ready to go, so she quickly grabbed a pair of jeans and picked a cute yellow t-shirt from her closet. After all, there was no need to get too dressed up just to sit in the car for a few hours. Not having time to do much else, she just combed out her straight, light-brown hair. Then she stood in front of the mirror for a minute. She still had the hiccups, and her tight little shirt did nothing to hide that fact. Even though her upper body wasn't that heavily 'endowed', each sharp, one-syllable hiccup produced a very visible bounce that her clothing definitely accentuated. It was also quite obvious that her flat stomach and even her throat sucked in hard with each spasm of her diaphragm. If she wanted people to know she had the hiccups, this was definitely the way to do it!
Sarah laughed and wondered aloud, "What am I *hic* doing standing here watching myself hiccup! *huck* If I didn't know better I'd think so-*huck*-mething was wrong with me." She turned from the mirror and grabbed her bag, mentally going over her list of things to remember. Unable to think of anything she was leaving behind, she carried her bag out into the living room, still beaming as she enjoyed the hiccups rocking her body.
Her dad came into the room just as she did. "Well aren't you the happy one this morning," he chuckled as he noticed the smile on her face.
"Oh yes," Sarah explained, giggling, "I've *hic* got the hiccups!"
"Ohhh, well lucky you," her father agreed, knowing that she really enjoyed them.
When Mrs. Beloit emerged, she wasn't quite so happy for her daughter. "How about you do something to stop those hiccups," she suggested.
"But I *hulk* like them!" Sarah objected.
Her mom shook her head; she thought enjoying the hiccups was totally dumb. But she simply answered, "Oh yeah, that's right." Then she pulled Sarah's shirt down over her slightly exposed midriff. "I don't think there's anyone around to show off to," she chided.
Soon Hannah and Juliana arrived, and after loading their luggage, everyone piled into the Beloit's minivan. Hannah, Sarah, and Juliana quickly claimed the middle seat, relegating Chris and Amanda to the back. Chris complained, "Hey, I wanted to sit with Hannah!"
"Sorry," Sarah laughed, putting her arms around Hannah and Juliana. "They're my *hic* friends too, you kn-*huck* know."
After a prayer for safety, they were off. Sarah's hiccups quickly became the topic of conversation among the three girls. As Sarah recounted how she used to get them way more often when she was little, her words interrupted by a hearty hiccup every few seconds, her dad looked back in the mirror at her. Her hiccups couldn't have been any more obvious as she sat in the middle of the seat, her arms still around her friends. They bounced her body and broke into her words with reckless vigor. "It's a good thing she likes them, or she'd be totally miserable," he mused.
As time passed, and the conversation moved to other topics, Sarah's hiccups started to fade away. Hannah noticed that fact, and suddenly piped up with a suggestion. "Oh look Juliana, Sarah's hiccups are going away! Now you know she wouldn't want that to happen, so how about we help her keep them going?"
"How would we do that?" Juliana asked, interested.
"Allow me to demonstrate," Hannah answered, and started tickling Sarah in the ribs. Juliana quickly joined in.
Sarah was hopelessly ticklish. "Noooooooo-*huck*!" she screamed, but to no avail. Despite all her squirming and wriggling, she couldn't escape the two, and by the time they decided to stop, all three were laughing helplessly, and Sarah's hiccups had indeed come back to life. Finally she stopped laughing long enough to say, "I don't thi-*hic* think you wanted to *hic* bring my *huck* hiccups back, *huck* I think *hic* you just wanted to *hic* tickle me!"
"Oh no," Hannah giggled, "We wouldn't do a thing like that, would we Juliana?"
"No, never!"
Mr. Beloit commented from the driver's seat, "How is it that whenever you kids are together at least one of you seems to have the hiccups?"
They all laughed. "I don't *huck* know," Sarah answered, "But what I *hic* do know is *hic* that it's my turn *huck* today."
* * * * *
After a few hours of driving, they arrived at the hotel. They would leave their things there, and Mr. Beloit would stay for his meeting. The rest of them would go downtown and visit the state capitol. Sarah still had the hiccups, since Hannah and Juliana had made it their enjoyable duty to tickle her every time they would start to slow down. As they walked through the hotel's luxurious interior, Sarah attracted a bit of attention from others they passed. Even without the hiccups, she was such a pretty girl that people often tended to notice her. But the loud hiccups and the bounce they gave her made even more people look her way.
"Is it just me or are people staring at you?" Chris finally asked his sister.
Sarah laughed, "I think *hic* you're right. *huck* These people m-*huck* must never have *hic* seen a g-*huck* girl with the *huck* hiccups before!"
After they finished unloading their luggage and said goodbye to Mr. Beloit, they set off for downtown. The kids weren't that excited about going to see the capitol, but that's what would make this trip 'educational'.
It didn't take too long to find the imposing capitol building. They all got out of the car and climbed the long steps to its entrance. Upon entering, they marveled at the large stone hallway before them. Every footstep they took echoed back and forth along its entire length. So did each of Sarah's hiccups, causing her mother to admonish her to be quiet. She thought it was cool, though, and did nothing to silence them. They all wandered around the hall for a while, admiring the architecture, the old flags, and the paintings of past state governors.
"Hey, look *hic* at this," Sarah called, "This flag got *huck* torn by a t-*huck* tornado that hit *hic* here."
"Sarah!" her mom scolded. "Not so loud, there are other people in here, you know. You're acting like a little kid. And stop those blasted hiccups right now! I'm sure everyone here can clearly hear and see them. Why, Helen Keller could probably tell you had them, if she were here! Now do something to stop them!"
"Helen *hic* Keller is dead," Sarah reminded her mother.
"My point exactly."
"Oh, *hic* I thought you *huck* meant cause sh-*hic*-e was blind and *hic* deaf," Sarah teased.
Mrs. Beloit rolled her eyes. "Enough! Now go hold your breath or something."
"OK," Sarah agreed. She knew that holding her breath usually just made her hiccups harder, anyway. She took a deep breath and plugged her nose as she held it in, wandering down the hall.
As she was doing that, she came upon a security guard. He looked at her for a moment and then chuckled, "Looks like someone has the hiccups."
"Yeah," she said, breathing again. "My mom *huck* wants me *hic* to stop th-*hic* them but I thi-*huck*-nk this is *hic* making them worse. *hulk*" She then proceeded to hold her breath once more.
"Good luck," he said, and then turned away to answer a question from someone else.
When Sarah returned to the others, hiccupping worse than before, her mother wasn't ready to give up yet. "Look, there's a water fountain over there; go take a drink. Maybe that will stop them. And I think I'll get some water too."
The two walked over to the fountain, and Sarah drank first. She hadn't taken more than two sips when she came up coughing. "That *hic* thing shoots *huck* the water right *huck* down *cough* right down your *huck* throat. Be careful!" she said as her mom took a drink.
The fountain did indeed produce an excessively strong stream of water, and Mrs. Beloit ended up choking on it, too. Sarah had to slap her on the back a couple times to get her to stop coughing. When she finally got all the water out of her throat, she croaked, "Yeah, you're right, it does shoot it dow-*hup*"
Sarah burst out laughing while her mom's face's color rivaled the red of the state flags around her.
Sure enough, Mrs. Beloit had the hiccups now too. She was a good-looking lady, in her mid-40's, although many people told her she looked younger than she really was. Of average height and weight, she had a perfectly-groomed, business-style appearance. And at the moment, she felt that hiccups did not complement her style at all. They were silent as long as she had her mouth closed, and although they were hard, they weren't very noticeable at all. That didn't matter to her, however; she was still mortified. Suddenly not caring so much about Sarah's hiccups any more, she tried cure after cure to make her own case stop. Finally giving up, she just locked her mouth tightly closed over them, and really, you could hardly tell she had them. Especially compared to Sarah, whose hiccups seemed to resonate with the granite walls, and whose whole body bounced with each one. Still, while Sarah enjoyed every minute of it, her mom wanted to melt right into the floor.
At that moment the security guard reappeared. He didn't notice Mrs. Beloit's hiccups, but simply asked, "Would you all like to have a little tour of the building?"
"Why *hic* sure!" Sarah answered pleasantly. "Let me *huck* call the *hic* others."
So they all gathered around and the guard began showing them all the interesting things around the old building.
They started up a wide stone staircase, as the guard told them of events that had transpired on those very stairs many years ago. "This building hasn't always been as quiet and peaceful as it is now. In the year 1866 there was quite a debate in the legislative chambers over the passing of the 14th amendment to the Constitution. It was a very touchy issue, and things got way out of hand. You can imagine how the shouting must have echoed through this building."
Amanda piped up with a relevant comparison. "A lot like Sarah's hiccups do!"
Mrs. Beloit grimaced as the others laughed. "Sorry, *huck* I can't help *huck* it," Sarah giggled.
The guard continued with the story, "Anyway, one of the legislators decided to take matters into his own hands, and, standing about where I am now, produced a gun and started firing at his opponents. He wasn't a very good shot, so no one was hurt, but one of the bullets hit the stone handrail here, chipping it. I don't know for sure, but I think this is the only state capitol in the nation that has had gunshots fired inside of it."
"Oh y-*huck* yeah, look *hic* Mom," Sarah exclaimed, pointing out the chipped stone.
Mom, still silently hiccupping, wasn't in the mood for looking at chipped handrails. She just wanted to stop her dumb hiccups. If it hadn't been for the kids, she would definitely have already left the building.
They walked on until they came to the balcony of one of the legislative chambers. A meeting was in session, and they all strained to hear what the legislator below was saying. "And the sons of Midian; Ephah, and Epher, and Henoch, and Abida, and Eldaah. All these are the sons of Keturah. And Abraham begat Isaac. The sons of Isaac; Esau and Israel. The sons of Esau; Eliphaz, Reuel, and Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah…" his voice droned on and on.
"What on *hic* earth is he *huck* doing?" Sarah asked in a whisper.
The guard explained that the legislator on the floor was taking part in what is called a filibuster. "It's when a minority of legislators want so badly to hold up a bill that they just start blabbing on and on rather than letting it come to a vote. This guy already read Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet, so now I think he's working on the Bible."
Sarah was practically indignant. "You *huck* mean to tell *huck* me," she exclaimed a little too loudly, "that we're *hic* paying these guys *huck* to sit *hic* there and read the Chr-*hic* Chronicles to *huck* each other?"
A voice answered her from the seats below. "Yes, young lady, that's exactly what's happening."
After a few more minutes of mindless reading, a man raised his hand, and was acknowledged. "I move that we adjourn for the day," he stated. Not surprisingly, a majority supported the motion, and the legislators filed out of the room.
The group on the balcony went downstairs and some of the other visitors began talking to the legislators. One of them came up to Sarah and Mrs. Beloit. Looking at Sarah with her obvious hiccups, he said, "You must be the one who was asking what was going on today."
"Yeah, *hic* that was m-*huck* me. How *hic* did you know? *huck*" she asked foolishly.
"Uh," the congressman hesitated, "maybe your hiccups had something to do with it?"
Sarah laughed, "Oh yeah, *hic* heh, I forgot about *huck* that."
"Sorry you had to get such a negative look at what we do here," he apologized. "Oh, and by the way, I'm James Taylor, and I represent the area around Athens."
"Really? *huck*" Sarah asked, surprised. "We're from *hic* that area, too *huck*. I'm Sarah Beloit *hic*," she hesitated for a moment, then added, "And this is *hic* my mother, *huck* Ann."
The congressman shook both of their hands as Mrs. Beloit still didn't say anything.
Sarah apologized for her mother, "See, she *hic* has the hiccups t-*huck* too, and they *huck* obviously bother *hic* her way more th-*hic* than they bother m-*huck* me."
The congressman chuckled as Mrs. Beloit once again turned beet-red. "I'm sorry," she stammered, "These hiccups are just really anno-*uck* annoying me."
"That's ok," he laughed, "Looks like it runs in the family."
"Yeah, *huck* except they don't *hic* bother me," Sarah noted.
Sarah and the legislator chatted for a few minutes while Mrs. Beloit just stood there looking very uncomfortable. Then, a loud hiccup escaped her tight lips. "Sorry, I have to go try to get rid of these things," she said, and headed quickly for the restroom.
A little while passed before Sarah ended her conversation with the congressman by saying, "I really should *huck* go see about *hic* my mom. *huck* It's been good *hic* talking to you."
He chuckled again. "All right, hope you can do something for her!"
"She's *huck* something else," Sarah said, "She gets *hic* all worked up *huck* over dumb th-*hic* things like that. Anyway, see *hic* you later."
"You all have a good weekend," he said as Sarah left.
She found her mother in the bathroom trying to improve the upside-down drinking cure without a cup, and without much success. "Come on *hic* mom, just forget *huck* about it. *huck* They'll go away *hic* soon enough," she admonished.
"That's easy for you to *hic* say," Mrs. Beloit complained, "seeing how you like them anyway. And plus, they're *uck* starting to hurt."
Sarah frowned. "I'm *huck* sorry they're hurting *hic* you. But stop *hic* acting silly," she said. "Let's g-*huck* go."
* * * * *
That evening, they sat at supper, all together, and amazingly enough, all hiccup-free. "How was everyone's day?" Mr. Beloit asked, as he usually did over supper.
"Great!" Hannah replied.
"Yeah, I had a nice day," Chris agreed.
"My day was simply spectacular," Sarah chimed in, winking at her mother.
Mr. Beloit turned to his wife, not knowing of the trouble she had experience with having the hiccups herself. "How about you, dear?"
She started a reply, "Ummm, well, it was -"
"*huck*" A sudden loud hiccup from Sarah interrupted Mrs. Beloit's statement, as everyone laughed, and Sarah's nearly all-day bouncing started up once again.
"Well," Mrs. Beloit said, modifying her reply from before, "It would have been a lot more fun if hiccups hadn't been involved."
"But Mom, *huck*" Sarah protested, "That was *hic* half the fun, wasn't *huck* it?"
Mom hesitated before answering, "Maybe for you, sweetie, but not for me. I'm glad you enjoyed it though."
"I did! *hic*" Sarah giggled. "Wish I *huck* knew what started *hic* it."
Chris's face suddenly started turning odd colors.
"What's wrong, Chris," Hannah asked, looking at him questioningly.
Sarah turned to face him. "You didn't *hic* have anything to *huck* do with this, d-*huck* did you?"
"Would I do something like that?" he asked, still blushing.
"Yes you would," Sarah and Hannah answered practically in unison.
"Weellll," he hesitated, "Let's just say that red stuff was more than ketchup on your scrambled eggs this morning."
"I knew *hic* they were way *huck* too spicy! You little! *huck*" Sarah gasped in mock fury.
Chris smiled innocently as he watched his sister laugh and bounce with each hiccup. "I just thought I was giving your breakfast a little unexpected seasoning."
"Hmph." Sarah pouted. "So you weren't trying to give me the hiccups."
"No, I wasn't," he admitted. "I'd do that for Hannah, but not for you."
Hannah looked at him suspiciously, and then looked down at her food.
Chris didn't look at Hannah but just finished blithely, "I'm glad you enjoyed it."