The Summer that Changed Everything (Complete)

Chapter 7 - The Party

Lynn sat in the window seat in her bedroom with it wide open reading a book when she heard the cordless phone ring on her side table. There were only a few people that knew this number. It was still so hard to get used to not knowing who it was that was calling before you answered.  

"Hello?"

"Hey, it's me ......... Brady," he said. 

"Oh hey. What's up?" 

"I just wanted to tell you guys I showed my dad the calendar and he said it all sounded good. He was pretty impressed by all our choices. When I told him it was your idea to take a cooking class together he thought that was great. He actually thought we should go more than once so we can all become really good cooks. He's always trying to get us to learn new skills." 

"That's probably why you're so good at everything," she laughed and then blushed when she realized what she just said. "I'm glad he liked my idea. So he agreed to everything on the list then?"

"Yep ....... everything. He's going to let me use his computer to print out the phone numbers and information we need to schedule all the stuff we have planned and buy the tickets. Now comes the hardest part of all. Getting to all these places without having our phones for directions!" he laughed. 

"Oh my gosh! You're right! I totally didn't even think of that. What did they do before cell phones?" she asked.

"I have NO idea. I guess we'll have to ask our parents." 

***** Two Hours Later *****

"Here you go. Here are some maps," her Mom said, plopping them down on the table. "After I talked to you earlier I stopped by the store and picked these up." 

"What? Are you serious?" she asked confused. 

Her Mom laughed. "Yes I'm serious. This is what we used before cell phones. If you were going somewhere and needed directions you looked on a map and mapped out what streets to take and wrote it down. Also if you needed to plan a trip you called someone and asked for brochures and information to be mailed to you. And if you really had to use the internet you went to the public library and used their computers." 

She put down a big thick yellow book in front of her on the table. "This is called a phone book. I got this for you guys so if you need to call a business in town you can look up their number, like if you wanted to order a pizza or a taxi or something. It's in alphabetical order and the front pages are for businesses and the back pages are regular people."

"Oh my gosh. Everything was SO complicated back then," she groaned. 

Her Mom laughed. "You have no idea how easy you have it. Oh! I almost forgot. I also picked up a couple other things for you and Wes." 

She pulled out two watches, two alarm clocks and two disposable cameras from a Wal-Mart bag. 

"Since you don't have phones now to see what time it is you need a watch and you also need an alarm clock to wake up in the mornings. I also got you guys a couple waterproof disposable cameras to take pictures of all the fun you'll be having this summer."

Lynn picked up the camera with the paper cover on the outside and rolled it around in her hands. "How does it work?" 

Her Mom showed her exactly how to turn the flash on, look through the square and push the button for the picture and then wind it with her thumb. 

"See there's a little tiny window that tells you how many pictures you have left." 

Lynn scrunched her nose. "You can't even see what the picture looks like after you take it? How do you get the pictures?"