radio

radio

What do you do when your sister forces you to go on a weekend of cabin camping? You go. That's what you do. Especially when you haven't seen her in years. She's in college, ever the reckless party girl that our mother wanted her to never be, and me, the responsible sister that her friends laugh about. It doesn't really bother me when I've finally gotten my life in order after college.

"God, Kel, put that away will you?" I complain as I fanned the smoke that assaulted me in the face. Kel loved those sticks of evil and heartburn. I've tried scaring her by telling her that her teeth were already as yellow as her favorite sandals but that hardly ever works.

She took the cigarette from her mouth and blew the smoke directly at me before tossing it out of the car. I shook my head and turned away from her.

~~~

Kel stopped the car in front of a worn down cabin. "How'd you find this place again?" I asked her as she grabbed her luggage from the trunk.

"We had a class project here." Kel said, "It was a parenting class where we had to pretend there was rent and bills to pay. Let's say some students abused that "husband and wife" thing." She said,

"I brought books but I don't think that'll be enough even for the both of us. Especially since you aren't really a fan of any kind of literature."

Kel looked up from her luggage and pressed her hand to her heart. "Wow, you wound me, Ken." She says sarcastically. "Contrary to popular belief, I happen to be intelligent. Alright?"

"Yeah? Well, if you were, you would remember that my name is Keen and not Ken." I shot back. "I don't live with Barbie and I do NOT have the hots for her."

"Anyway, I brought this old radio along." Kel said as she lifted a wide heavy set box looking radio. "Grandma gave it to me last spring break. It won't play my iTunes track list but whatever. It's gonna be quiet here at night."

~~~

I set my bags down in the living room, extremely relieved that only the outside looked like it had been caught in a sandstorm while the inside looked like anyone's maintained home.

"We've got bright lights in here so it'll feel just like home." Kel said as she placed the radio on the kitchen counter.

"I'm pretty hungry. What've you got? I'll eat anything." I said as I kicked my luggage into a corner.

Kel cracked open an ice cooler on top of the small round kitchen table and brought out two wrapped sweating burgers. "Sorry. I'm not exactly Susie Homemaker." She winced.

I sighed. Not because the burgers were sweaty but because I'll eat anything.

~~~

Evening came sooner than expected. Probably because we were in the middle of the forest and the darkness was magnified about twenty times over because of the surrounding trees.

I sat by the table, a book between my fingers while Kel struggled with frustration to get a signal on her phone. After I hear her growl, I look over and say, "Kel, we're in the wilderness. Put it away. Grab a book."

She got up off the couch and tossed her phone in a corner. "Whatever. I need music now, anyway." She approached Gramma's old radio and tuned it. She stopped a news station. "That's odd."

"What?" I asked, putting my book down.

"It sounds like an ancient broadcast." She said, as a man spoke into the radio. "Like in the 80's or something."