Élphame

Chapter Six

          They stopped about an hour later at a grocery store in just about the smallest town Naomi had ever seen. There were plenty of houses, but they were all spread out from each other, like they were embarrassed to be seen together, and there were no sidewalks. Naomi wondered how this town had enough business for anything larger than a convenience store.

          Darcy and Naomi followed Ezhno through the isles of the store as he filled the cart with all the food they would need for their stay at the lodge. There were lots of pasta noodles in the cart. Naomi hoped spaghetti wasn't the only thing on the lodge menu.

          Darcy was glued to her phone. Many times Naomi saw the name Sunshine when she pulled Darcy out of a collision course with the shelves. She must have been texting him about the lightning, Naomi guessed. She wondered if he had found anything interesting to report.

          "Do you girls think this will be enough?" Ezhno asked.

          Naomi looked in the cart. There were cereals, pancake mix, and muffin mixes for breakfasts; bread, peanut butter, and anything else needed to make any variety of sandwich for lunches; and pasta, tomatoes, and canned alfredo sauce for dinners.

          Naomi thought for a moment before answering. "What about eggs, milk, and cheese?" she suggested. "And some fruits? To go with the pancakes?"

          "Good idea." Ezhno said. He pushed the cart to the dairy isle and Naomi followed, dragging Darcy along. "What about now?" he asked once he'd added all of Naomi's suggestions.

          Naomi hummed thoughtfully. "What kinds of foods are already there?" she asked.

          "Just the non perishables," Ezhno said. "Canned goods, mostly. There's also some flour, sugar, and spices-- at least, there were last time I was there."

          "This seems fine to me, then," Naomi said. She nudged Darcy, who was texting, next to her. "What do you think, Darce?" she asked.

          "Yeah, it's great," she said distractedly.

          Ezhno rolled his eyes. He made his way to a check-out lane, payed for the food, and went back to the car. The rain had let up so that it was merely a light drizzle, not the pouring downfall it'd been earlier.

          When they got back on the highway, Darcy was still glued nose-to-screen with her phone.

          "You know, staring at a screen like that is bad for you," Naomi said.

          "Hm? What's that?" Darcy said destractly as she typed something.

          "See? It's already turning your brain to goop."

          "Awesome."

          "You're not listening to a word I'm saying, are you?" Naomi asked.

          "I can't remember. Ask Ezhno."

          Naomi met Ezhno's eyes in the rearview mirror and stifled a laugh.

          "Don't worry," he said. "She'll lose service here in about ten minutes."

          "Isn't there service at the cabin?" Naomi asked, a little worried. She promised Papa she'd text him every day, and if there was no service...

          "Oh, there is. There's just not a whole lot between here and there. It's real patchy."

          Feeling relieved, Naomi tried to get Darcy's attention again, but when that didn't happen, she stared out the window.