Never Alone

Chapter 36

Chapter Thirty-Six

We had conquered the rapids. It might not seem like a huge deal to anyone else, but to a group of six kids who had nearly died only days ago it was epic. We ate our dinner outside on the patio of a pizza shop in town. Sam joined us and we promised to drop him off on our way back to the campsite.

"Is there anything to do in this town besides ride the river?" Marco asked as we watched a few cars turn into the parking lot across the street. It seemed like the restaurants were the only places drawing a crowd of any kind, but there were other businesses peppered in between them.

"The river is the best thing about this town, but it isn't the only thing. In the winter we can snow-ski locally, too." Sam lifted his beer to his lips and took a sip. "As for day to day, though, there isn't much. There's an old Internet café down the street and they have gaming tournaments sometimes. They have Virtual Now, of course, but also some of the older consoles."

Damien looked down the street. The sign for the Internet café was easy to spot. "Do they still have computers or is that just a theme for fun?"

"There are three computers in there," Sam said. He smiled. "They're a bit archaic, but they'll work in a pinch. I haven't seen anyone on them in a long time, though. Every once in a while a kid will sneak in and log on if they've been grounded from their iPhone or other technologies. I don't think parents even remember the place."

"Is there anywhere where I could get a disposable camera?" Aideen asked.

"I haven't seen one of those in years. If you were going to have any luck with that I'd say you'd have to try Baker's Drugstore at the end of town." Sam pointed in the opposite direction of the Internet café.

We finished up the pizzas and our drinks. Sam told us more about the town and where he stayed. He lived with two other guides and was dating a girl but wouldn't call it serious. He called Dr. Crimm "Julia" and I could see the hesitation for them to say goodbye. Dr. Crimm paid our bill as we refilled our drinks. "You guys can go wander for a little while." She looked at her watch. "Let's meet back here in forty-five minutes." She handed each of us a ten dollars. I guess it was a good thing, since we could now buy something if we really wanted.

Is there anywhere where I could get a disposable camera?" Aideen asked.

"I haven't seen one of those in years. If you were going to have any luck with that I'd say you'd have to try Baker's Drugstore at the end of town." Sam pointed in the opposite direction of the Internet café.

It was our first outing into the real world without her. It felt scary for some reason as I stepped through the doors and out onto the main street.

"I'm going to go check out that Internet café," Damien said. "I'll meet you guys back here."

"I'll go with you," Ken said quickly. "I don't think we should go anywhere by ourselves in a town we don't know.

"Okay," Damien agreed. If he had been thinking about hurting himself, he would have put up a bigger fight. He hadn't. Maybe he was just genuinely curious about the café.

Marco came along with us girls and we stepped into a store that could easily have been a portal to another era. There were actual shelves and they were dusty. Products had clearly rested on them for ages, unmoved.  We browsed each aisle, touching the products and twisting them on the shelves while Aideen searched for her camera.

We didn't leave disappointed. Her new canvas sack contained a disposable camera, graham crackers, marshmallows, and Hershey bars. We'd found a cute package of campfire skewers on sale in the clearance section to complete our plans for the evening. We had a party in a bag and were excited to get back to the campsite so we could get dessert started. Damien and Ken weren't back yet when we found Dr. Crimm and Sam sitting on a bench near the place we were to meet.