Saturday, June 13, 4.30am Who: George and Callum Lincoln, Lisa Ritter, Noah Browning What: Camping trip Where: Colchuck Lake, Lake Stuart When: Saturday and Sunday; currently 4.30 am Saturday Rating: PG-13 Status: Ongoing
Noah swore as he worked his SUV into a parking space in front of the Cambridge Arms apartment. Parallel parking was surely one of the levels of hell--one of the lower ones, filled with demons and other assorted nasties, like SPO officials. If he had a Mini or some other tiny car, it would've been no problem, but tons of camping equipment were hard to haul in a little car, not to mention they weren't really built for off-the-road. So he did the best he could, and swore blackly until he finally got it parked in some moderately-legal way.
He went around to the back hatch of the SUV and opened it, picking up the pack sitting there beside his fully-loaded one, along with the sleeping bag and underpad and single-person tent. Lisa had said that she had a sleeping bag, but he wasn't sure if it was some cheap knock-off or a decent one, so he'd brought one. It was still early in the season and got cold in the mountains at night. None of the equipment was Julia's--he couldn't make himself loan that out just yet--but extras he had in case one of his nephews came to visit and wanted to go camping, all perfectly good and servicable.
Equipment in his arms, he went to the front entrance of the Cambridge, and fumbled until he hit Lisa's intercom button. When she said good morning, he smiled and said, "Rise and shine, Violet." The speaker wasn't all that great, but he thought he heard her laugh, and a moment later he heard a buzz and the clack of the lock disengaging, and he pushed inside.
Up the stairs, more stairs, and hey, guess what, more stairs. At least he wasn't carrying half a sofa this time. He spared a thought for Bannerjee, and wondered how the children were. He hoped they were settling in all right.
Finally he reached Lisa's floor and leaned against the bell. Jesus, who needed an exercise program with all those stairs?