We drove quite a long time and my sister needed to pee. "Not here," said my mother, though we passed several gas stations by. "Here," she said. My grandfather pulled over to the side of the road.

"Go with her, James," she told me. My father said that he'd take her instead. They got out and my grandfather said, "Lock the doors," and we did. I watched my father take my sister's hand and they walked across the grass and into the pines that stood like a wall on each side of the road.