Tales from the Garden of Eden (COMPLETED)

Chapter 7

The restaurant was ironically built like a log cabin. Fires, wooden seats, along with a rustic vibe made a fitting ambiance for our shivering bodies. It was a typical steakhouse, with anywhere from burgers to French onion soup on the menu. There's barely a table fit for the fifteen of us, but somehow we make it work. The adults and children segregate unknowingly, with the elders on one end and the kids on the other.

By this time we are all starving, and there is little conversation between us. Most of the idle chatter is about the voyage tomorrow, which was a four-hour car ride up to the Park. We would set out around seven in the morning, and then subsequently get to our destination around eleven. We will get our gear, attend a class about the Park safety, and then head out about one. The adults assured us that it would stay light for another three hours, and then we could hike for another hour about with the sunlight dwindling. But, Mrs. Gimms had told us, the darker it gets, the colder it gets, so we likely won't be moving long after the sunset.

"So why exactly did you pick Alaska? Like why couldn't we go to say, the Bahamas? I'm sure that their culture is just as different as this is." Kelly asks, stating a question that had been revolving in all of our minds, although maybe not as elegantly.

"Well," The same, gruff man who had spoken earlier says. "To the company's CEO, Ron Bradford, Alaska and the Denali National Park has a special sentimental hold on him. He grew up here, and has always said it is a sin to never visit here."

"Well aren't the company's headquarters in Michigan? Why aren't you located here?" Simon asks, obvious confusion in his voice.

But the man waved him off. "It's easier if the headquarters were on the mainland. Ultimately, the cost of everything is cheaper and you're closer to your colleagues and associates."

"So...what would to happen if we get hurt? Like what are the plans?" Sydney asks. She's obviously been waiting to find the best time to broach this topic.

"First off, it won't. Secondly, I we go back into base on the sixth day, right in the middle, so if anyone has anything that could potentially turn dangerous we will leave them at the base where there are capable health professionals. On the rare case that something does happen and a hospital is needed, there are helicopters that can lift anyone anywhere needed. Obviously, our trip would be cancelled if that happened." Mrs. Gimms says this with almost rote memorization, like it has been ground into their brains for some time.

But Sydney doesn't seem as unsettled as I am, and she merely smiles and says, "Ok, thank you."

This was a baddecision. I think to myself and clutch my cup of water closer to me. So far, Kelly, Hayden, Sydney, Trent, Jonathan, and Simon are anywhere from mildly to severely intoxicated, and they don't plan on stopping.

So, in the corner, the leftover four of us, Jack, George, Melanie, and I sit nursing a cup full of water, not really sure what to talk about.

"So do y'all have a reason that you don't drink or just never have?" This is a dangerous question, possibly one that will culminate in tears, yet George asks anyway. He probably added the last option for Melanie, and I didn't feel guilty admitting it.

"No real reason, other than the fact that I got scared by a over-protective mother." Jack says. "She's a nurse, and after one particularly bad case in the ICU with a drunk driver she came home with the fury of God behind her and threatened to castrate me if I ever drove intoxicated. I was fourteen at the time and a momma's boy, so I took it a step farther and just don't drink at all." George nods, and I look at him in surprise. The thought of Jack being a momma's boy didn't really sit with me.

Melanie clears her throat. "Grandfather was killed in a car accident last year, haven't even taken Communion at church since then." Her voice doesn't break at all, and respect towards her fills me.

When George doesn't speak immediately, I look up from my cup. "No reason really, I guess I was just scared of all of those stories about people doing horribly in college or missing an interview so I never did."

We all look at George now, and he just shrugs. "Normally I do, but I just felt that tomorrow would be a lot easier if we stayed sober and had our heads about us. And besides, there needs to be a few sober people just in case."

"And you were willing to do that even if you were the only one?" Melanie asks, one eyebrow raised.

"Well somebody had to, and besides, I figured that there would be a few people who wouldn't." He looks pointedly at who he is conversing with. "No offense."

She waves it off. "I'm aware of the image I set for myself, and I'm not ashamed of it. It's basic human nature to make assumptions based on appearance, so no harm done." We are all kind of looking at her in an awed manner, what kind of a teenager is ok with people judging her on her appearance? She notices, and shrinks back into her little shell that she had just cracked out of. "Both of my parents are Psychologists, I come by it naturally."

"Whoa that's cool actually. Do you like have dinner conversations about that stuff?" George asks, leaning foreword. I don't know if he's actually interested or just doing this for her benefit, but he made her smile.

"Not normally, they like to keep work at work, but every now and then they will talk to be about it."

"Wow, my mom doesn't work but my dad owns a restaurant, so basically all our dinner talks are about food and cooking and shipments. It gets pretty boring." I say, and I keep my gaze on Jack, mostly because I wanted to know what his parents did.

He gets the message then says, "My mom works the night shift normally-I don't know why, she has the option to work in the daytime-so its just my dad and I at dinner. So even though he is an engineer, we usually keep the topic of conversation more on my level. Sports is the main subject."

"My mom doesn't work, and my dad owns a watch shop...I guess it's a jewelry store but it mostly deals with watches." All of our gazes drop to his wrist, to see if he was perhaps wearing an expensive watch. He notices, then says. "I figured I wouldn't need a nice watch, so I have some sport watch in my bag. That should do it, right?"

I nod my head. "Yeah, that's all I brought." I hold up my wrist, showing off my 20-dollar watch I had gotten just before I came here.

A loud, shouting laugh brings our attention to the progressively louder group in the middle of the room, spread out across two beds. It comes from Sydney, who playfully and clumsily pushes Jonathan away.

"We should break them up shouldn't we? It's getting close to midnight and they're bound to need some sleep after this."

We nod, then stand up, not excited about our task.