Page 76 of False Start

Kit laughed, light and bubbly. “Think it’s okay to park and take a look around?”

“Judging by the safari guide on that fence post, I think it’s fine.”

Kit pulled the key out of the ignition, racing for a box labeled “Visitor’s Information” on a fence post.

“So, are you thinking African Safari or Polar Express?” she asked.

The map was a photocopied, handwritten approximation with lines marking two trails around the property. A shorter loop around the house for the Polar Express, and a longer trail entering the woods for the African Safari.

“African Safari, for sure.”

“Good, I need to be out of the car for a bit.” Kit replaced the map in the holder, unnecessary with the trail markers in front of the box, one pointing left for the Polar Express and another to the right for African Safari.

“Do you think this person and the dinosaur person chat?” Kit asked, ambling past two wildebeests drinking from a small watering hole.

“Do you think there’s a group chat for roadside attraction artists? A discord channel? Or maybe a Facebook group?”

“Seems like there are enough to throw a small conference. And we’ve only seen the people on the east coast.”

“Not even the whole east coast. What do you think we’d find in the northeast?” I asked, my shoulder brushing hers as we walked.

“Giant lighthouses and sea creatures. I bet there’s a whole bunch of lobster artists in New England.”

“And they fight with the crab artists in Maryland?” I grinned.

“Probably. Do roadside artists get along? Like, what happens if this guy moves in next to the dinosaur roadside attraction artist?”

“They team up together and make a dinosaur African safari.”

She smiled, pausing to snap a picture of the family of elephants marching through the woods in the distance. “I can’t believe tomorrow is the last day.”

I paused, recounting the days, surprised at the tally. “Wow. So, this is over tomorrow?”

“We pull into a car show in the afternoon and that’s it. We head home.”

I exhaled, falling behind Kit as she pushed on to the next set of animals. “I’m not sure I’m ready to head back to Norwalk.”

She ran her hand over the hammered metal horn of the rhinoceros sitting along the path. “Me, neither. I wouldn’t have brought it up. Only, I wished I’d signed up for a longer rally.”

“Maybe we just head straight for the next one,” I said.

She shook her head. “It’s not until the fall. Besides, I have a job. A normal job. I can’t do this forever.”

I couldn’t either. I needed to get back to Norwalk. Needed to get back to training and preparing for the coming season.

“It’s been fun,” I said. An understatement if there ever was one. It’d been an escape. A much-needed escape.

“It’s not over yet.”

Kit’s tongue escaped into her mouth. “It’s not what I expected.”

Natural Slide wasn’t what I expected either. One hundred feet of smooth rock ended abruptly with a six-foot drop into a pool of water. And the water didn’t gently flow over the top of the rock. It crashed.

“At least no one else is here.”

Kit squatted down and plunged her hand into the current. She sucked in a breath. “Yeah, because it’s freezing.”

I tested the water. Yep. Icy cold.

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