Cross-Generational Cross-Country

(My mother is planning a cross-country trip to get a car from one coast to the other. My other family members suggest I go with her to keep her company. I refuse, because being trapped with my mother for a week would probably end badly for one or both of us, though I never mention this explicitly. It is a few days before she leaves.)

Mother: “So, why don’t you want to go on the trip with me?”

Me: “I have plans that week.”

Mother: “Hmm…”

Me: “Hey, since you keep saying Grandma needs to visit you out there, why don’t you ask her if she wants to go with you?”

Mother: “You hate me, don’t you?”

Me: “What?!”

Mother: “Do you really think I’d survive for a week stuck in a car with my mother?”

Me: “Uh, well…”

Mother: “…ohhhh.”

(For the record, she really enjoyed the trip… by herself.)