Chapter 4: Zuphixy starts to get board

After Zuphixy slept in, he watched a movie on the TV in his room with his caregiver while having breakfast in their room. Then his caregiver went to the library and took a book back to their room and read it out loud to Zuphixy.

In the Wilson's room Zendaya had woken up and found out that she had slept the night in the chair. Her parents had thought that would teach her to go to bed if her parents recommended it. Now nobody can sleep well in a chair, so Zendaya was still sleepy and grumpy. Elijah was so well rested that he was jumping on his bed while singing his favorite hymn while their parents were looking at the schedule for the day. Zendaya decided to have a nap in her bed while the rest of her family had breakfast in the buffet. Elijah was so hyper that he could not sit still while having breakfast and was running around after each bite. Then Zendaya finally got up and had a quick breakfast. Once Zendaya was done eating, Wilson's family went to the basketball court and played a boys vs girls game. After Elijah won the game both of the children went back to their room and had a nap. Meanwhile Michael went for a jog around the outside deck of the boat and his wife went back to the casino. At lunchtime the family met at the buffet.

Elijah saw Zuphixy at the buffet, and without getting permission, he climbed on the table that Zuphixy was sitting at. He grabbed the spoon from Jacklyne and tried to feed Zuphixy like he saw his sister do the other day, but he ended up spilling the food all over the table that he was sitting on. Michael had to grab Elijah off the table and apologize for what Elijah had done. Jacklyne accepted the apology. She understood why Elijah had done what he did. She made it clear that 27 she was not mad at Elijah, and said to Michael that maybe there was something else Elijah could do so that he could feel like he was helping just like his sister did.

Michael was unsure about what Elijah could be able to do as his autism would stop him from doing most of the things that would be helpful. Zuphixy suggested that Elijah be his door man as there were some doors that didn't open by themselves. Elijah was happy to help with the doors for a while but then he got bored, and Jacklyne had to take Elijah back to his family after only a few minutes. Zuphixy was happy that Elijah quit because Zuphixy was too depressed to deal with Elijah for a long time. Jacklyne on the other hand was hoping that Elijah’s energy would cheer Zuphixy up, but Elijah energy seemed to just make Zuphixy more upset that he was physically not capable of doing things he wanted.

During that time Abeba kept switching from the casino and going to the bar for drinks, until the bartender prevented her from having any more because she had too many. She was escorted back to her room where she took an afternoon nap.

Zendaya knew that when her mom was in bed in the middle of the day that her mother had drunk too much and it was better for everyone to stay away from her. So she took her brother, Elijah, to the arcade and they spent the rest of the afternoon playing games there while their dad spent the afternoon in the gym unaware of his wife's drunkenness.

Meanwhile Zuphixy went with his caregiver and looked at the art that was on display and found a painting that he liked the looks of. Zuphixy was thinking of buying one, until he saw the price and realized it was not included as part of his free trip. After that it was dinner time so they went to the dining room.

Zendaya did not want to be with her mother when she was drunk, so she decided to have dinner in the dining room by herself while her brother and father stayed with their mother. Not that they wanted to be with their mother earlier when she was drunk, but Michael knew that if Elijah would go to the dining room Elijah would have a meltdown from all the sound.

When Jacklyne Van Den Berg saw Zendaya sitting by herself, Jacklyne was scared that something bad had happened to the rest of Zendaya's family. Jacklyne had to find out why Zendaya was by herself. It was decided that Zendaya should not sit at a table by herself so Jacklyne convinced Zendaya to sit with her and Zuphixy. Zuphixy saw that Zendaya was also having a bad day and decided that he would not think about how bad his life was. Instead he did his best to cheer Zendaya up by joking around with her. After everyone was done eating, Zendaya texted her father to let him know that she was joining Zuphixy and his caregiver to a performance.

Zendaya was worried about returning to the stateroom because of her mother’s drinking. But Abeba had slept so long she was no longer in a drunken state. When she got to their room there was a goose made out of towels. Zendaya then went with her brother to the arcade and played games. Their mother surprised them by joining them in whatever game they were playing until it was Elijah bed time. After Elijah went to bed, Zendaya and her mother spent the rest of the evening doing things that they both enjoyed doing together, while Michael spent the evening in the gym. After that everyone went to bed. Zendaya decided that it was not smart to fall asleep in a chair so tonight she made sure to go to bed at a good time.

The next day the boat was already docked in Aruba when everyone finished their breakfast. Now because none of the tours were accessible to Zuphixy it was decided that Michael and Zendaya could take care of Zuphixy, while Jacklyne took a tour bus around the island with Elija and Abeba. Elija was not impressed that he was not with his sister again, but his mother made it clear that she was not going to tolerate Elija acting up. But halfway through the tour Abeba had fallen asleep because she stayed up late gambling after her daughter had gone to bed early.

Zuphixy decided that he still wanted to get off the boat, so with the help of Michael he managed to get off and walk around the part of the town that was close to the ship. They took photos with their cell phones and they managed to do some gift shopping before they all got too hot and went back on the boat to cooldown.

When the tour that Jacklyne, Elija and Abeba were on came back to the boat at the end of the tour, they all went on the boat for lunch like they did on the other days. After that Jacklyne went off the boat to do some shopping of her own even though Zuphixy had done the shopping in the morning. While Jacklyne was shopping Zuphixy got another message.

The Wilson's took another tour to fill the afternoon up but Zendaya was complaining about the hot temperature. Her parents weren’t pleased that Zendaya was making such a fuss, when everyone on the tour was as hot as she was. No one else was complaining out loud, not even Elijah. You can tell that Elijah was not happy about being hot either but for some reason he didn't say anything, and once his sister was quiet Elijah fell asleep from the heat. After the tour the Wilson's were getting back on the boat. The staff were giving people cold juice or water to drink and wet cold towels to keep people cool. Once everyone was settled on the boat it was time for dinner. Elijah and his dad stayed in their room while Zendaya and her mother went to the dining room and sat with Zuphixy and his caregiver.

After The Wilson's were done with their dinner it was time to play another family baseball game. Zuphixy decided to watch Wilson's play, while his caregiver went to the library where she did some reading. After the game was over everyone went to see a movie on the tv by the pool before going to bed.

When the next day had started, the boat was just starting to pull up to the port in Bonaire. Elijah wanted to watch and wouldn’t even finish getting dressed until he saw the boat in port from their private deck. Zendaya couldn't care less about how the boat got to port and was trying to pressure Elijah to hurry up so that the family could have breakfast in the buffet. She wanted to get off the boat as soon as she could so that she could do as much shopping as possible.

Meanwhile, even though Zuphixy woke up early he was not in any rush to do anything and did whatever he could do to prevent his caregiver from getting him ready for the day. Jacklyne was frustrated with Zuphixy not cooperating and had to give up on helping him and went to the buffet by herself for breakfast. After she was finished eating, she went back to Zuphixy who finally let her help him up, and then Zuphixy had his breakfast.

Mid Morning everyone was ready to get off the ship where they did some souvenir shopping. Elijah was not in the mood to be shopping and kept running away from his family. Michael was also not too interested in shopping and kept running after Elijah and bringing him back to the rest of their family. Michael had to pay for anything his family got as his wife had maxed out her credit card for the day with all the gambling she had done. Elijah had to go along because he was too young to stay on the boat by himself and with him being autistic It was unsafe to leave him unsupervised. Jacklyne was too busy with caring for Zuphixy to care for Elijah as well.

Zuphixy was in a different shop with his caregiver also looking for a souvenir. His legs kept spazzing and he almost kicked a person in front of him, but the person had moved out of the way just in time, unaware of how close she was to being kicked.

After the shopping was done it was lunchtime and everyone had to go back on the boat to the buffet to eat as there was nowhere else to eat near the ship. Zendaya could tell that Jacklyne was tired so she offered to help feed Zuphixy. At first Jacklyne was not sure if Zuphixy was going to cooperate with that idea or not. Jacklyne didn’t want Zendaya to have to deal with what Zuphixy had done that morning. To Jacklyne’s surprise, Zuphixy agreed because he felt bad for how he treated Jacklyne that morning and he didn't care who helped him and decided that this was a way that he could show her that he was sorry for making her morning difficult. So Jacklyne let Zendaya help Zuphixy and she went to the deck by the pool and had her lunch on a sunlounger while working on her tan and accidently fell asleep. When lunch was over Zendaya woke Jacklyne up and Jacklyne took care of Zuphixy again.

When lunch was over the Wilson's family took a tour around the island where they learned some shocking history about the island. Elijah did not understand why everyone was shocked and at first he thought that he had done something wrong and he fainted from anxiety.

Meanwhile Zuphixy and his caregiver also got back off the boat but because there were no tours that were wheelchair accessible, all they could do was walk around the area close to the ship. Which was fine, until they got too hot and had to go back on the ship to cool down, which they did multiple times until it was the last boarding call anyone had to get back on the ship. As they went through the security check the card reading technology quit working. Zuphixy and his caregiver were not allowed on the boat for ten minutes until they passed the security check with a new card reader that the security guard had to get from elsewhere in the boat. Luckily they were the last ones on the boat by then. During those ten minutes, Zuphixy was so stressed about it he was scared that they may not ever be allowed back on the boat, and didn't know what he would have done then.

Once everyone was safe on the boat, Zuphixy got to watch the boat pull away from the port along with Elijah who tried to explain from his six years understanding of what was going on. The words that Elijah 32 used made everyone laugh, but they tried not to show it to Elijah because he would not understand what was so funny. Once the boat was far enough away from the shore that there was nothing for him to say, it was dinner time. Elijah and his mother had room service while everyone else went to the dining room. After that everyone went to a performance. The children fell asleep almost as soon as they got settled. The parents decided to watch the whole performance before they took the children to bed. Abeba went to the casino once her children were safe in bed. Michael went to the library and spent the rest of the evening reading.

The next morning the ship was getting close to Curacao so everyone went to the buffet for breakfast so they could get off the ship as soon as possible. Now, just like the other places the ship stopped, they don't have any tours that were wheelchair accessible to Zuphixy disappointment. Then Michael convinced everyone involved that he could safely carry Zuphixy on the tour bus. Not that Zuphixy or Jacklyne needed to be convinced, it was more the tour company and the cruise company were scared of legal issues. But once everyone signed a waiver they allowed Michael to get Zuphixy on the bus. The bus stopped at an aloe vera plantation where everyone got some cream. Zuphixy did not get off the bus because he didn't want to have Michael carry him too many times.

After the tour was over everyone got back on the ship for lunch in the buffet, and had cool down showers before getting off the ship to do some souvenir shopping. After that the children went to a room on the boat where anyone could make jigsaw puzzles while the adults went off the boat and walked around the area taking pictures until they got too hot. When the adults got back on the ship the man started to sing with the songs from the Eighties that were playing over the sound system, which embarrassed Zendaya to the point she started to blush. Elijah on the other hand started to hop to the beat of the music even though he had never heard the songs before. The signing happened when they were on their way to the pool where they did some swimming together before they got ready for dinner.

The Wilsons had the dinner in their room because the parents thought that Elijahn would be tired and would act up if they went to the dining room. Zendaya was frustrated that they all had to have room service, and was mad that her parents wouldn’t let her to the dining room by herself, even though she went by herself before. Meanwhile Zuphixy and his caregiver went to the dining room and were surprised that none of the Wilson's were there.

After The Wilson's had all finished eating as much as they could, the whole family decided to go to the top floor where there was a jogging track and they tried to race each other which Elijah found so fun he could not stop giggling to himself.

While that was going on, Zuphixy and his caregiver were swimming in the pool until the pool got so busy it became unsafe for Zuphixy to swim due to his disability. So they left and went to the library where Zuphixy's caregiver read him a book.

After some time both Zuphixy and his caregiver went to a concert that was on the boat and happened to sit beside the Wilson's family. Now the eighties music was too loud for Elijah so he covered his ears with his hands and swayed back and forth. This got his sister's attention and she decided, with permission from her parents, to take Elijah to somewhere more quiet. So they went to the library where nobody else was at that time. The whole reason that the kids even went along to the concert was because Michael thought that Elijah would like the music based on the way he was singing it earlier in the trip, but Michael had forgotten how loud people play that style of music at concerts. Zendaya had gone to the concert because she didn’t want to be by herself on such a big boat with so many strangers. Zendaya was glad to have an excuse to leave when her brother had found the music too loud as well. Now their parents had grown up in the eighties and really enjoyed the music that was being played at the concert that they forgot all about their children. When the concert was over it was one in the morning and Zendaya along with her brother had gone to bed by nine.

The next morning everyone except the children slept in. Elijah couldn't understand why his parents wouldn't get up. Zendaya did understand because she knew how long the concert was going to be the night before. So she and her brother went to the buffet for breakfast while their parents slept. After the children had finished breakfast they went to the arcade. Sometime later the children went for a swim in the pool before it was lunch time in the buffet. At which time they saw their parents for the first time that day.

Zuphixy and his caregiver also slept in as they had stayed up late the night before as they were at the same concert. They decided it didn't matter what time they got up because it would be a day at sea. Once they got up they had a late breakfast in the buffet and happened to sit beside Michael and Abeba who also had a late breakfast without their children. After Abeba was done with breakfast she went to the casino and gambled until lunchtime, which she had with her family. When Michael was done with breakfast he went to the gym and went to the pool before going for lunch with the rest of his family. Zuphixy and his caregiver had gone to the spa after breakfast. After the spa they went to the library until it was lunch time in the buffet

After lunch the Wilson's family went to the room that had jigsaw puzzles again and they made one together as a family. Zendaya made a comment about how making a puzzle felt strange to do on the ship, as they could just as well have stayed home to make one. Abeba responded by saying “Do you have a better idea of what we can do as a family to fill this time with?” After Zendaya had made the comment, the family went and played a game of basketball again. Zuphixy and his caregiver were just wandering around the boat when they came across the basketball game and decided to watch the game from a distance. Zendaya was not paying attention to the game and she got hit by a ball and she had to get checked out by the doctor on board the boat. The doctor ran some tests and confirmed that she was not injured.

After the game ended it was dinner time, and if they were to go to the dining room they would have to dress up fancy. The children didn’t want to cooperate, so their mother stayed with them in their room and had room service, while their dad went to the dining room. Zuphixy and his caregiver met with Micheal and they went to meet the chef who has been making the meals. After dinner was over Zuphixy and his caregiver had gone swimming in the pool. While the Wilson's family watched a movie in their room. Soon after that everyone went to bed.