Chapter 3

 

This was the definition of the middle of nowhere. The GPS has been quite unhelpful in the woods. The last 30 minutes leg of the journey comprised of a twisted version of the “telephone game”, where Mai stayed on her phone and relayed directions back to her boyfriend. The dirt trail was seriously testing the engineering of Japanese cars. Carlos cringed at the image of the suspension springs buckling. Wrestling the wheels while off-road, exhausted, and frustrated, Carlos maintained a steadfast conviction of helping Mai chase whichever goose she willed. Besides, what she was going through would likely have snapped him in two, the boy reminded himself.

 

The thick forest parted way to reveal an clear midday sky above a riverside town. “Town” was probably sugarcoating it. The place was more of a colony of cozy wood and vinyl bungalows. This obscure hamlet laid snug against a bend in the river, symbiotic with the vast waters like a living, breathing creature. Carlos stopped the car for a bit, and Mai got off the phone. The sight compelled them to look beyond the low-rise roofs, toward the other side of the still waters. Strewn on the overgrown stone cliffs were these small brick villas with the wide French windows, hiding behind a coat of opaque foliage and hedges like shy giants peeking out from their lair. These giants had eyes on the river, the houses on its opposite shore, and the two alien Brooklynites who just arrived in a beat up Toyota. Mai broke the silence, softly intoning,

 

“Hey Split, let’s find ourselves a place to stay, yeah?”