Sam raised an eyebrow and looked at Mackenzie as though to say, “Is this girl for real?” Mackenzie shrugged, holding back an uncharacteristic giggle.
“Oh, sweet! Cereal! Lots of kinds, too. I totally love cereal. Like, you have no idea. I’m a cereal nut. Well, not cereal with nuts, though. I’m not a big fan of nuts. Oh! And instant oatmeal! And coffee? Blech, who likes coffee?”
“I like coffee,” Sam and Mackenzie both volunteered at the same time, each turning to the other in surprise.
“Ugh! You guys can have it,” Kaitlyn said, not breaking stride. “Wait, tell me there’s milk for the cereal… yes! Milk. Good.” She continued listing the contents of the fridge and the cabinets in an unbroken litany.
“It’s like she’s a kitchen announcer,” Sam said to Mackenzie. “You know, like a sports announcer, but for kitchens.”
“Yeah,” Mackenzie agreed. “She should sell groceries on one of those shopping channels.”
“OMG, totally,” Sam replied. “Look at this beautiful cereal, people! I wish you could taste this at home, and smell the cinnamon, and run it through your fingers, just to get the full sensory experience! You simply must have a box for yourself! You haven’t lived until you’ve tried this cereal!”
Mackenzie and Sam both broke down laughing.
“I can hear you, you know,” Kaitlyn said, but it only made them laugh harder because she didn’t otherwise pause at all in her ongoing inventory. After listing all of her food finds, she moved into the bedroom off the kitchen, and they could hear her voice drifting back to them through the open door.
“Hey, there are books in here!” she called out. “Like, some paperbacks. We can trade back and forth, OK? I mean, assuming we have different ones. And notebooks and pens. And a computer desk. No television in the bedroom, but this window is gigantic! Oh, sweet! The bathroom has little soaps and shampoos and stuff! Like a hotel!” Her voice was even more muffled in the bathroom, but suddenly she came running back out into the suite again.
“Hey!” she said, making sure she had the attention of both girls, as if there were any chance she might not. “I call dibs on the bedroom off the kitchen!”
“Why?” Sam wanted to know. “What’s so special in there?”
“’Cause it’s closest to the kitchen?” she replied, looking confused. “I thought that was obvious.”
Sam and Mackenzie burst into another fit of laughter.
“It’s yours,” Sam assured her.
“Sweet!” Kaitlyn exclaimed, and she went running back into her bedroom again.
“You want center or laundry?” Mackenzie asked, turning toward Sam.
“You don’t care?”
“Nah,” Mackenzie said, waving the question away. “I sleep like a log. You could blast a movie in here or do laundry in there at 3:00 a.m. It won’t wake me up.”
“Um, middle, I guess?” Sam said. “If you’re sure you don’t mind.”
“I don’t mind,” Mackenzie assured her, smiling. Huh. Maybe we can be friends, after all, she thought. And she picked up her bags, carrying them through the laundry room and into the bedroom that would be hers for the rest of the summer.
? ? ?
Settling the boys into their suite was a much quieter affair, the two older boys letting Roman have the middle room by unspoken agreement, Rush ferreting himself away into the laundry-side bedroom and Daniel taking the kitchen.
“Be sure to be downstairs in the main hall by 9:00 a.m. for breakfast and orientation,” Miss Williams said on her way out. “I’ll tell the girls on my way to bed and make sure they’ve settled in OK.”
“Thank you, Miss Williams,” Roman said politely. “We’ll make sure Rush knows.”
“Thank you, Roman,” she replied. “You remember where my room is? In case you need anything? Please don’t be shy about waking me up. It’s my job to make sure you kids are comfortable here.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he affirmed.
“Well, all right. Good night, then,” she said, casting a moment’s worried glance toward Rush’s bedroom but then smiling warmly at Roman and Daniel, who had reappeared after depositing his guitars and amp safely in his bedroom.
“Good night, ma’am,” Roman replied.
“Good night,” Daniel echoed.
“Oh,” Miss Williams said, obviously just remembering something, “and Roman, the food in the kitchen? That’s budgeted, too, like the airport food. OK?”
“OK!” Roman agreed. The door hadn’t even closed behind her before Roman was rummaging around in the kitchen, just to see what was there, while Daniel slid past him and disappeared into his bedroom for the night.
Once Miss Williams was gone, Rush reappeared in the living area with a gaming console that he set beneath the television. Roman watched from the kitchen as Rush began to run his hands along the edges of the screen and then placed his face as close to the wall as he could, trying to see what was behind it.
“Miss Williams said we have breakfast and orientation downstairs at 9:00.”
“I heard,” Rush said.
“What are you doing?”
“This,” Rush replied, without further explanation, but he centered himself in front of the television and pulled it gently away from the wall, having discovered that the set was on a swiveling wall-mount, as he had hoped.
Roman just stared at him in amazement.
“How’d you know it would do that?” Roman wanted to know, but Rush just shrugged.
He disappeared into his room again and came back with two controllers and a headset. He hooked the headset and the console up to the television and then pushed the screen gently back against the wall. Next, he pivoted the console table and found an electrical outlet. He plugged in the console and then moved the table back again. He turned everything on and fiddled with the remote until the picture from the console appeared on the screen.
He grunted, satisfied, but when he tried to go into the system’s network options, he hit a snag.
“Damn,” he said under his breath.
“What’s wrong?” Roman wanted to know.
“No Internet. What kind of five-star resort doesn’t have Internet?”
Roman just shrugged.
Rush disappeared again and came back this time with a small, flat box. He hit a button on it, and a green light started flashing, but after a few moments Rush frowned and disappeared one more time.
He cursed then, loudly, and he reemerged from the room with a scowl on his face. Roman watched him carefully, but no bees came peeking out of his ears, nor did any of his beautiful silver armor start glowing red, so he decided it was safe enough to try another question.
“What’s that?” he asked, pointing to the box.
“Hot spot,” Rush said, and then, seeing Roman’s hopeful expression and relenting a little, he added, “It takes a cell signal, like for your phone, and turns it into an Internet wi-fi that other things can hook up to.”
“Really?” Roman asked, impressed. “Like for your game?”
“Well, it’s supposed to, yeah. Only, it’s not.”
“Why not?” Roman wanted to know.
“No cell service.” Rush held up his cell phone. “No signal, no Internet. I swear, we must be in freaking Timbuktu.”
“Where’s that?”
Rush chuckled a little. “I don’t know. Someplace really far away.”