Heroes of Flowers: Karmi's Camden Adventure

Chapter 9: Karmi's Plight, Dawkins Strike

They said that the fruitcake in Camden was to die for, but all Karmi tasted was dried fruit and walnuts.

Maybe I should've gotten a croissant. But no, she had to get a fruitcake from the hotel's cafe as the apple trees on the Dalmatian Plantation were making her crave the stuff.

Which was why she was still nibbling on the dessert half an hour after her family got back from their trip, leaving her alone in the Thunderbolt Lodge.

Well.. technically not alone alone, as there were other people enjoying their lunches, but Baymax had taken the twins to the park and her parents were visiting some winery, and that left their family dogs who obviously were hanging with the Dalmatian family so she had no one to talk to.

Not that Karmi blamed Domino for wanting to hang with his long-lost family for as much as he could before they left. I wonder if he wants to stay with them... She had asked her mother that at one point. Sure, the twins adored the pup and would miss him so but Karmi couldn't separate him from his family in good conciseness.

"There's no need for that, Domino can chat with his family over voice call or text, it's not like he'll never see them again." Molly had answered. Karmi would've preferred giving Domino the option, but maybe her mother had that talk with the Dalmatian family's parents during their breakfast at a local cafe, so she didn't push it.

"Someone looks like they're trying to reach another plane of existence." A familiar bright voice caused Karmi to look up, and see that one of her Camden buddies was now sitting across from her.

"Just thinking." She forced another bite of fruitcake down her throat, it tasted like ash this time. "Do you think my dog would be happier with the Dalmatian family?"

Kirby raised an eyebrow. "Where is this coming from?"

"It's just that... he has a lot more freedom in Camden than he has back home." Karmi explained, Domino couldn't casually wander around the neighborhood or a dog-catcher would snatch him up. "I mean if I was in his shoes... I'd do anything to be able to be myself, free and able to do whatever I want."

She might've worded that wrong, based on how Kirby's stare darkened. "Not that I'm sheltered or anything, but my parents are just really overprotective of me, especially my mom! She used to freak out if I got injured as a kid."

"Relax, I know a thing or two about overprotective parents." Kirby reassured her. "My mom used to be really strict when I was a little kid, but not since my aunt's been around."

The curious scientist in Karmi felt that there was more to the story than the jock was saying. "Wanna talk about it?"

"So funny story, I'm named after my aunt, but her last name is Blake, um so my mom thought she was dead by the time I was born and named me after her but then she came back... really awkward affair." Kirby gestured, clearly indicating they didn't want to share the gritty details. Not that Karmi didn't blame them, since Kirby implied their aunt had partaken in villainous activities. "But everything's fine now! I got a really cool aunt, got more creative freedom, and nothing dramatic happened!"

Karmi sighed. "Wish that could happen with me, ever since I took my break from SFIT, they're still trying to convince me to take college classes somewhere else."

"What's wrong with SFIT?" Kirby stole a bit of her fruitcake and popped it in their mouth, not that the biotech major cared, she wasn't hungry anymore.

"It's in San Fransokyo and San Fransokyo is 'dangerous.'" Karmi gestured with air quotes. "Also there's this dumb speculation that bad things happen to teen geniuses at SFIT."