Chapter 10

• Rayne wanted to stomp on the box in her hand. She read the instructions once more for the little converter do-dad thingy. Apparently, she had to select the right voltage, plug it into the car lighter and then she could plug her new travel coffee maker into it. Simple, if she knew what the correct voltage was. She just wanted coffee and would be more than willing to solve puzzles after that.
• Opening the box, she went back around to the opened driver’s door and plugged it into the lighter outlet and turned back to look at the coffee maker. If she blew it up, she was going to be devastated—no coffee was a very bad thing. Picking up the brewer, Rayne set it on the floor of the car and slowly plugged it in. A light lit up on the converter thing, but that was it. Blowing out a breath, she hoped that meant it was going to function. She had water— now if she just knew where the boy had put the coffee, the world would be right once more.
• Going back, she looked in the trunk. She had to take it all out might as well start now. Rayne started pulling things out, still amazed that this much had fit into the car. Besides her clothes, he had packed a tent, a small folding table and chair, and food all squished into a cooler, which could also plug into the converter. There were several cans of food scattered in nooks and crannies to conserve space. She even had an air mattress, and after sleeping in the car last night, it sounded really good right now. It plugged into the lighter to be inflated. Who knew a car lighter could do so many things? She felt around under one of the bags of clothes and touched something that felt like a can of coffee, of course she stood there grinning as she pulled it out and hugged it. Coffee. The day was looking better now.
• Roughly ten minutes later, Rayne held her travel mug of hot steaming coffee. Inhaling the aroma was almost as gratifying as drinking it. She paused and looked at the mess she’d made pulling out a bit of this and a few of that. Was she looking forward to setting up her little camp? Yes, now she was. It could be fun. The boy had saved all the instructions, so it should be fairly simple to set up. She turned around and tried to decide, while savoring the coffee, where she was going to set up her tent. He’d said something about the morning sun, but she couldn’t remember for sure. Shelter it from the sunrise or face the sunrise? Wouldn’t it be better to have the warm sun at dawn? Oh, dawn light. So, the East—she should make sure it wasn’t in the open to the East. Turning in a complete circle, she frowned, if she knew which way was East, it would be easier. Had she bought a compass? Honestly, she didn’t know. He had been packing stuff and ringing it up all while she stood there wondering if she should even be thinking of camping alone.
• Not ready to admit she was awake enough to work, Rayne wandered over to the little building and pushed the door open. She didn’t step inside, just remained standing outside looking in. It was very dirty from what she could see. There were a few areas where daylight showed through the holes in the walls. Rayne sipped the coffee while debating on cleaning and using it instead of the tent. No, that would be too easy and a waste of money. The sales boy had told her to keep the food locked away from where she slept, so it didn’t attract animals—an idea she didn’t want to think about and the little cabin seemed the best place to store it all. It would be easier than digging around in the car every time she wanted something. She could even use it with the little table and chair if weather turned stormy again.
• Nodding at her first definite idea of the day, Rayne went to pull out the small stack of instruction sheets. How hard can it be to set up one tent? Can’t be that difficult, right?
• With sweat dripping down her forehead Rayne stood back and eyed the results. Is it supposed to lean like that? It had not been as simple as the instructions had implied. Two people probably would have made it easier. Each time she had the one side of the little collapsible poles all in place, she’d go around and hook the other one into its hole and then the first side would jump out and tip over again. At first, she was sure she’d been sold a defective product, but she finally managed to get it upright, mostly. That was when she noticed the entire top of it was screened, but her heart settled back down when she fit the fly thing over the top. Why they didn’t just put a roof on was beyond her.
• Staking it had been a whole different event, after several attempts, she dragged it close to the little building and tied two of the strings to a post so it wouldn’t blow away. Buying a hammer would have been a great idea, well, if she’d known what it took to put the stakes into the ground. For a few brief moments, she debated on tying the other strings to her car, but as she’d already cheated by using the building she wanted to at least partially comply with the instructions. A rock had solved the lack of a hammer, even though the boy had told her to just step on the stakes. Did they need to be completely in the ground? Hopefully not. Either she wasn’t heavy enough to use his step technique, or the ground was unusually hard and no amount of hammering was going to push them all the way in. Despite a few little kinks, she had her tent.
• It didn’t look overly large on the inside and she wondered if the air mattress was going to fit. Glancing at the sky, Rayne decided she should probably clean the little storage cabin next, just in case another storm came through. Somewhere in the car was a hand broom and dustpan. The boy had just smirked at her, saying there wasn’t much need to sweep while camping, Rayne felt some gratification knowing he had been wrong about something. Of course, locating it in the clutter of items that were half in the car and piled on the ground was going to take a few minutes of searching.
• She hadn’t bought cleansers, not even thinking she’d need them, and she was sure the blue haired boy didn’t think of cleaning often. How she was going to clean the very dirty window of the cabin? Rayne didn’t want to waste her bottled water to do it, which brought her back to trying to turn the taps again in the shower building. She couldn’t help laughing at herself, she was a list person and it brought her a small measure of comfort when she decided she needed to start a list to keep things in priority.
• As she swept out the building, Rayne realized she was enjoying all of this. Just her and the wilderness, she was roughing it. She giggled, okay, so not including all the luxuries the car lighter brought, she was roughing it as much as she ever would.
• By noon the little cabin was all clean and the table was set up inside with her laptop and camera on it. The precious coffee maker earned a place indoors. Her bags were neatly organized. She hadn’t bothered to remove the cases with her fancier clothes in the trunk of her car. She doubted it would offend the squirrels if she didn’t dress for dinner. She had a list too, it made her feel better having one. On the list, in addition to the water tap and exploring the immediate area was a reminder to start the car for a few minutes after using the converter and car lighter. The last thing she needed was to be stuck here with a dead battery. Bonus camper points for just thinking of that.
• Deciding she’d earned a break, Rayne sat in the camping chair beside her tent eating a granola bar and apple. She had the book of plants she’d bought open in her lap, but preferred looking around at the real versions. The few items she had managed to identify that were nearby were a great likeness though. The only reason she had bought it was the mention of poison ivy had her wanting to know if there were any other poisonous plants she should be aware of. It wouldn’t be good to end up with a rash out here by herself.
• Looking up at the sky, she wondered if there would be a breeze any time soon. She felt hot and sticky after everything she’d done, and dirty in a most uncomfortable way. The water tap was at the top of the list for a reason, she had to find a way to bathe. Was there a lake around? Would she be brave enough to go in if she did find one? She didn’t know about that just yet, but this had already been a day of many firsts for her, so it was entirely possible.
• Break time over, Rayne got up, she had too much to do and a whole new world to explore.