A bead of sweat trickled down the side of my head. This was definitely not the way I imagined my summer vacation in China going. Being crammed in the back of a car, without air conditioning, exhausted, and smelly. Having my shirt was sticking to my sweaty, gross body, and being really hungry. No, right now I should be clean and fresh, ready to go to sleep on a soft bamboo mat with the air conditioning blowing across my body.

We couldn’t even open the car’s windows! Even the small stream of warm, humid air blowing into my face would be better than right now, sitting here in the stifling heat of the car. We’re almost home. I consoled myself. We’re almost home.

***
I slumped down drowsily in my seat as the car became progressively warmer.

“Pull over! Drive over to the side of the road!” my uncle suddenly snapped to our driver. My eyes jerked open. I overheard my mom questioning him in rapid-fire Chinese, only hearing snippets of conversation like “dead battery” and “shut down.” Moments later, our car stopped at the side of the freeway.

“What happened?” I interrupted, not being able to comprehend the situation. “Why has the car stopped?”

“The car’s battery started to die,” my uncle explained, “and we had to pull over before the entire car shut down completely.”

“What?!” I shrieked. “The car isn’t working?”

“Calm down, I’m sure it’s fine. I mean, we still have gas, right?” my uncle consoled.

“Right…” our driver echoed uncertainly, and turned the key in the ignition. The car groaned and spluttered for a few seconds before dying again.

“Okay then, don’t panic anyone, I’ll just call the others to come pick us up, and the towing company,” my uncle said confidently, “we’ll be out of here in a few minutes.” A few minutes. Well, I could deal with that, I convinced myself, as I jumped around to keep the mosquitoes from devouring my legs. A few minutes.

5 minutes. No sign of truck. My mom takes a picture of the highway sign. “For memories,” she says when I look at her weirdly. 

10 minutes. My little sister needed to go to the bathroom. Still no sign of truck. I slap at the bugs circling around my legs.

20 minutes. “Oh hey, maybe that’s the tow tru-” Nope.

***
After much pacing, dancing around, and sweating for what seemed like ages (probably 40 minutes), the tow truck finally came. The adults discussed for awhile before deciding to send me, my little sister, and our driver with the tow truck people, while the rest of them waited for my other uncle to come pick them up. Not understanding exactly where I was going, I pulled my little sister into the car with me. We drove down the freeway silently, slightly shivering as our bodies adjusted to the cool air conditioning. After a few minutes, we drove to a stop next to an empty convenience store lot. Or at least that’s what I thought it was.

“Well, here you go guys! I’m sure the other adults will find you guys soon,” the driver announced cheerfully. He opened the door to let us out. Still not quite sure what was happening, I grabbed my sister’s hand again and dragged her out of the car.

For a few minutes, we stood in front of what looked like a closed convenience store. There was barely anyone there, just a few homeless looking people eating noodles on the ground, blankets surrounding them. Other than the slight wind softly whooshing through the parking lot and the occasionally slurping sounds that made their way to our ears, there was silence. I thought about all those stories about kidnappers just waiting in the dark to snatch up unsuspecting children and pulled my sister closer to me.

Looking around, I tried to read the sign by the road, but my pitiful Chinese vocabulary was not enough to decipher what city we were in, or what road we were on.

This was definitely not the way I imagined my summer vacation going.