Chapter Text
“I don’t think you’re doing that right.”
Rick huffed in frustration as the tent collapsed in on itself once again. “Yeah, duh.”
Karen set down the twigs she’d gathered into a pile. “I thought you said you’d done this before?”
“With Dad, yeah. But not by myself.” Rick studied the directions again. “I think maybe we’re missing a part…”
Wanting some alone time to celebrate Sasha’s birthday, Karen’s parents had allowed the pair to camp in the forest behind the church. Carter had assured them that he was only a shout away if anything should go wrong, but Karen had insisted that nothing would. Despite her determination, things hadn’t been going as smoothly as she’d hoped.
They were already behind schedule, and it would be getting dark soon. Karen squatted next to Rick, reading the plans over his shoulder. He pointed to the long pole meant to prop up the center of the tent. “I think that’s what we’re missing. Maybe it’s still at the house. I can run and get it real quick.”
Karen shook her head, jumping to her feet. “We can’t accept defeat and go back to civilization over something like that! We’re in a forest- there are sticks all over the place!” She dashed into the forest, returning a few minutes later dragging a long stick behind her. Grinning with satisfaction, Karen held the log in place as Rick fastened the remaining rods into place around it. After draping the canvas over the frame, the pair stood back to admire their handiwork.
Rick crinkled his nose. “It looks like a horse ran over it.”
Karen shrugged. “It doesn’t have to win a beauty contest, it just has to stay up. Whatever, it will do. Come on, we still have to build the fire.”
Just managing to finish setting up camp before sunset, the children huddled around the fire, the box dinners Lillia had packed before them.
Karen sighed blissfully as she took a bite of her tuna sandwich. “Just think, it’ll be just like this when we grow up and get a house together. Well… Maybe the house will already be built, but still.”
“And we’d have to cook, too,” Rick pointed out. “We won’t have our moms to do it for us.”
Karen watched as the plume of smoke rose high into the sky, drifting off in the direction of her own house just a few dozen meters away. “I’m not worried about that. Cooking can’t be that hard.”
Karen’s natural self-assuredness was just one of the things Rick loved about his best friend. With no other boys in town his age, it’d been only natural that Rick would end up with primarily female friends, but Karen was always his favorite. She was confident in a way he hoped to emulate one day, and she was always the first to come up with adventures to pass the time. She talked often of her dreams to move to a big city where they’d get an apartment together and live out their dreams that were too big for their sleepy town. She’d be a performer, with no fears or worries to tie her down, and he’d study to be an engineer and finally get to bring his ideas to life.
“When we’re grown-ups,” she’d say, “We can do whatever we want. You and me, together.”
She’d always been so certain that he’d never questioned it.