Fireworks

8

"Hello?" I hesitantly say

"Hadlee, thank god. Look I know you aren't working for me, but I need you right now. Can you please help me out? I'll pay you, I swear." she says, her voice slightly panicked.

I feel my eyes widen. "Oh, um, yeah I can be there. Are you alright?"

Arlo frowns at that, and crosses his arms while leaning against his truck, listening.

"Yeah, I mean I'll be fine, but Liam is coming here for an inspection and things are definitely not legal right now. The Camper is supposed to be 25 feet from the chains of the tent, but it's 25 feet from the fabric of the tent, so we're like five feet away from being shut down. The Camper is out of gas, so Dad's on his way back with some hopefully before Fire Boy gets here so we can scoot the Camper. Not to mention we still have illegal fireworks in the trailer that need to be hidden ASAP. I called in a couple of the guys but they're at the lake and can't make it before Liam's going to get here. Could you do me a huge favor and come back with Isa and Arlo to help out?"

I blink. That doesn't sound too good. "Um, yeah I can follow them back. Do you think I should get some extra gas while we're still at the station?" I ask, glancing at the pumps behind me.

She groans and says, "Dad says he got enough, you should be okay. But can you grab me a red bull while you're there? I haven't slept in 32 hours and I need to move fast."

I laugh a little and say, "I'm on it, I'll see you in a few minutes."

"You're an angel," she calls before ending the line.

"What's going on?" Arlo asks as soon as I hand the phone back to him.

"Apparently Liam's coming for an impromptu inspection and the Camper isn't within legal distance from the tent, but it's out of gas." I explain briefly, looking away from him. He was so intense.

Arlo sighs and says, "We better get going. You're coming?"

I glance towards the entrance of the gas station and say, "Yeah, I have to grab something first, though. You and Isa should go now, I'll catch up with you in a couple of minutes."

He nods and heads towards his truck without any more questions. I guess after working around this kind of chaos for so long you get used to it.

I waste no time jogging inside and paying for a can of Red Bull. I can tell that the cashier is silently judging me for all of the drinks that I purchased, but for once I don't really care what a stranger thinks of me. I make it to the tent in no time, and swiftly hop out of my car upon seeing the utter madness happening in front of me.

Dad has made it back with the gas, but they're struggling to get the Camper filled. Isa and Mom are handing sealed boxes of presumably illegal fireworks to Arlo, who's arranging them in the back of his truck.

I jog over to Harriet and hand her the Red Bull and she gives me a thankful look before downing the entire thing. She coughs a few times and then tosses the can inside of the camper. "Right, thank you, Hadlee.  I need you to go and start getting the tables that are under the tent away from the poles. It's kind of illegal to let them lean against the support beams." she says it quickly while grabbing another can of gas for Dad to take.

I nod and say, "Do you want me to just lay them on the ground?"

"That would be best." she nods, balancing on a step to the Camper to reach the awning above her.

I move quickly to the tent and see what she means.

The poles that are holding the massive tent up are buried into the ground effectively, but it doesn't look too safe to have stacks of tables leaning against them. And there are dozens of tables.