The summer sun
seared its way through the canopy of trees of the huge rainforest. From up
above, one could barely make out a dozen dotted figures making their way into
town. Their backpacks were just about their own size and the holiday t-shirts
they wore clearly labeled them as foreigners.
“Are we there yet? My
back is peeling from the tan!” Fiona looked up from her hat at the path ahead.
The three boys turned to look at her.
“If you’re so worried
then you didn’t have to join our adventure” replied Mark. The rest of the dozen
kept squelching the mud under their boots, trying to make progress. A flood was
wiping out the civilizations in the country; the hotel that was sheltering them
politely asked them to make a move. However they gave directions and a map
referring another hotel so maybe it was compensated. But the only path was
walking, and the river routes were impossible to maneuver, they had ended up
cutting through the dense forest, hoping it was the shortest route. Finally
after a day’s travel, they crawled up the steps to the reception.
“Hi, six rooms please
for a dozen” Neil the eldest of the twelve put down his card on the polished
desk.
The receptionist
lowered her glasses, looked past Neil’s shoulder at the dirty customers and
back at her monitor. The ceiling fan croaked while she tapped their names into
the list or at least pretended to.
“Do we have a
problem?” Neil flaunted his thin plastic card. She paused and then like a
switch turned on, her smile turned on. Meanwhile the rest of them were grazing
in the lobby.
“Oh yes, of course…
the dozen; Mr. Gibbs already told me.” She came out from her imprisoned desk.
“This way please…” Neil turned to see that Fiona was the only
one in the room.
“Guys we got the room,
come on!” Neil sighed happily; being the shepherd to this crazy gang was fun.
They trailed off behind the receptionist
who was giving the tour of the place on her toes the whole time. The hotel was
pretty cliché, but the cottages were done in really well. It was on top of a
hill and they had a good feeling that the flood wasn’t going to reach up till
here to grab them. The dozen chattered the whole way, so much that some guests
opened their doors to check them out.
“Pretty nice huh?”
Brandon asked digging his elbow into Jeremy. They both were the last of the
lot, lagging behind to explore the place themselves.
“Wow man, check out
this basket! Champagne fit for the king!” he said taking one and assessing it.
Brandon whistled low. Jeremy looked all
around, and slowly unzipped his jersey, stifling the bottle inside.
“Dude what are you
doing? Put it back man, you’re going to get us into some serious problems” said
Brandon obviously worried for the rest of them.
“Chill out Brandon,
think of it as… complimentary; laid out for the guests by the management of the
hotel. Let’s hurry we’re losing them.”
Next morning at 4 the six cottages
heard a loud knock on their doors. Neil
stepped out wrapped in a robe. The receptionist was there, a stern look on her
face. Gary popped out from behind just as two officers popped out from behind
her.
“Woah…what’s all this
about?” whispered Gary eyeing the guns strapped onto their belt. By now
everyone was out on the lawn crowing around him.
“I have no damn
clue…”replied Neil as the three approached.
“Neil?”
“Yes?”
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