We'd been living in the car-house for so long that I almost forgot it wasn't home. "I have an idea," I said as Mom ate a leisurely lunch, sharing bits of sammich every few bites.
"Mmmm?" Mom asked, lifting her eyebrows but not lifting her eyes off of the Witch's face.
"What if we lived in the car-house forever? We could play in the desert and the mountains every day and you'd never have to work."
"I wish," Mom wished.
The car-house adventure was supposed to be my Birthday wish, but I didn't mind sharing it. Just as long as she didn't make me return it.
"We do have one more day before we have to go home," Mom said, "where do you want to go?"
"Easy! I want to play in the white dirt forever."
"Sure. We could stay here in the mountains for another day..." Mom woke the Witch back up. "It would mean a long drive tomorrow, but..."
She talked to the Witch for a while in their secret sign language that I can't understand. I watched Mom's face do interest - annoyance - interest - disappointment - interest - disgust - interest - exasperation - interest - frustration - interest - pique. Once her face had gone through the whole thesaurus she thumped the Witch face down on the table in vexation.
"There's a huge storm blowing through tomorrow." Mom looked up toward the top of the mountain, but it was lost in clouds. "Flash flood warnings in the lowlands and they're saying it'll dump a foot of snow in the mountains."