Mana Pool

Chapter 2

“Good. Well, I gotta go help Dad in the warehouse. Be careful, Katie.”

“Thanks Mom. See you later.” I hung up and sighed, whining to let out the tension.

It felt as if all my happiness was sucked out of me by Mom’s voice. Hearing her worry about us is enough to drive me crazy. I had to drown out that phone conversation. I went for a shower.

Dressed in a short sleeve shirt and jeans, I waited for my coffee to finish brewing as I made a small egg sandwich. My to-do list was to gather up all of my stuff in boxes and clean the bathroom. Half of Scott’s things were already packed and the rest was sitting around waiting to be stored into boxes. Scott had his things left as half of his stuff was packed. Everything else we would leave for the complex’s cleaning crew with an extra cover charge. There was no need to waste more time.

I set my breakfast on the coffee table near my MacBook and opened the balcony window’s blinds. I saw parts of the lake and the shopping centers to the East; the sun reflecting off the snow was bright enough to make me squint. The Christmas decorations on most of the apartments made me homesick.

I sat down on the couch with my coffee. I had to get some writing done before packing or I would feel off for the rest of the day. I turned on the TV and flipped between news channels, holiday shows, and infomercials. A special report aired on Asteroid Helen, with Dr. Maggie Helen telling the world that science was right for once.

*****

Summit Inn, Grizzly Summit

11:31 AM

After being two minutes late because of me and fifty other cars parking at the same time, getting past ticket lines stretching more than a school bus, say good morning to Ashley at her booth, and hearing skiers and snowboarders expressing their feelings of the non-apocalyptic day, I knew very well that the mountain was sold out.

Let the Advil fall like rain.

Since Mike and I were off work last night, the two rookies had taken over our spots. It was no surprise that the cleaning hadn’t been looked over twice.

I looked at a shattered stein glass under a table near the bar and sighed. I grabbed a broom and dustpan, swept up the big pieces, and told one of the new guys in our group to grab the vacuum.

“These rookies aren’t as good as they used to be. Only joking, kid,” Mike said to one while washing glasses and tap spigots.

I snorted and dumped the dustpan’s contents in the nearest trashcan. Walking back to the bar I asked, “So, did you do anything else when we left?”

Mike was reinstalling the cleaned spigots for the taps. His green uniform shirt had a large water spot on his belly from being pressed against the sink. “Nothing big. Ashley went to the bedroom and prayed for an hour and I watched South Park. It’s just sad that it was the only entertainment on with no news reels clogging up the TV screen.” He stopped on the third tap and jabbed a finger at me. “And don’t tell me what you two did, your relationship is like an open book to the whole mountain.”

I laughed and began drying off the glasses and stacking them on the shelves.

We both worked in the bar, situated in the top floor of the main building at the base of the slopes. The bar room wasn’t very big, but it housed ski memorabilia dating back to the early fifties and sixties when the resort first opened. A main staircase opposite the bar area ran down to the first floor, where they served biscuits and gravy for breakfast and clam chowder for lunch. Of course they cooked more stuff, but those were the ones I liked. Some skiers were sitting in chairs on the balcony that was separated from the room by a window. Beyond the balcony, the quad was crowded with riders.