|
Rain Harder "The rain fell alike upon the just
and upon the unjust, and for nothing was there a why and a wherefore."
At 5 pm an insatiable nacho craving struck Sharon. Unfortunately for her, exactly zero of Roblin's five restaurants had gone Mexican. More to my liking (I often left restaurants hungry and feeling ripped off), we hoofed it to a grocery store and bought all the requirements for a super-sized nacho oink-fest. By the time we returned to the campground with our fixings, a boisterous bluster was threatening in the east. Concrete grey clouds, pregnant with rain, looked ready to deliver the mother of all storms. We secured our bikes under a picnic shelter's roof and got down to business - making a serious dent in our nacho ingredients. (Like our friend Rebecca says, "Eat fast! It only takes 20 minutes for your stomach to know you're full.")
By 9 pm - freshly showered, laundered, and attired - we were cocooned in our sleeping bags, enjoying the evening's serenity and waiting for sleep to overtake us. "Can you believe it?" I yawned. "Free showers." "And open 24 hours," Sharon reminded me. "Nothing like the option to shower at 2 am, eh?" "This is great," I sighed, listening to gentle rain patter the tent roof.
At 9:30 pm, nearly asleep, our bliss ended. Four pre-school kids with a barking dog arrived. I peered out the tent door and watched a haggard male straggle far behind the shouting boys. The little darlings, accompanied by their overzealous furry friend, traipsed through the trees beside our tent, gathering firewood. The father lit a smoky fire and they all attempted to roast marshmallows. Or at least the dad gave it a valiant effort. The youngsters, meanwhile, ran about yelling, chasing one another, yelling, throwing sticks for the dog, yelling, hurling rocks into the lake, and yelling. The father hollered at them non-stop to be quiet and behave themselves. His false threat: "Stop that or we'll go home right this instant!" wasn't impelling to the boys. They didn't stop. And they didn't go home right that instant. Undeterred, they continued running around and yelling at the top of their voices. My eardrums were in danger of imploding. Sharon pulled her sleeping bag over her head. "Rain harder," she muttered over and over like a personal mantra. |
Book Info
