Make The Season Bright Bunk'd

Talk in the Tiny Museum

"We've been circling this neighborhood for forty minutes, Ravi."

Once Lou had gotten into the rental car, Ravi backed out of the Martinez's driveway and drove four streets over to a different residential area. He made left turns and right turns and repeated the process on the same six streets until Lou could recall details of nearly each house. These houses were more elaborate than the ranch-style home they had just visited. Massive windows and double doors must have been HOA mandated. In the large yards, there were hand-carved Nativity scenes, and ten-foot-tall inflatable Santas, and lights shaped into the Star of David that burned bright even in the daylight. The holidays were obviously a big deal in James City.

"Someone's gonna call the cops, eventually, if we keep this up," Lou continued.

Ravi stomped on the break in the middle of the empty street, making Lou jerk forward. She slammed her hands on the glove compartment and screamed, "Are you crazy!" She swatted his shoulder and then pressed her back against the seat. "You're crazy!"

Wordlessly, he put the car in park and stepped out, shutting the door behind him. From the rearview mirror, Lou watched him pace behind the car. He had his hands tucked in his pockets and his shoulders were so tense that they were up to his ears. It was still snowing outside. Lou folded her lips and crossed her arms as she sunk down in the passenger's seat.

"He's crazy," she muttered. She glanced out the side mirror and saw him starring into the distance. "Poor thing."

Outside, a group of tweens on bikes with fat tires peddled toward the rental car. The group split in two with half of them biking around the left and the other around the right side of the car parked in the middle of the residential street. The tweens laughed and shouted random things at each other. One of them had a Bluetooth speaker on their bike, playing radio-edit rap music. Ravi watched them bike off into the distance before resuming his pacing.

He heard dinging as Lou left her door open and joined him behind the vehicle. He didn't stop pacing, so she walked in step with him. She turned on her heels when he turned on his heels. She tucked her hands in her pockets just like he had tucked his.

Eventually she spoke, asking, "Want to know another secret?" Ravi didn't reply or stop pacing, so Lou nodded and continued to speak. "I had a crush on a guy that basically robbed me, lied to all of his friends about us, and got me kicked out of the teaching assistant program." She shuddered before adding, "And I haven't told anyone the truth about it."

Ravi spun in front of her so fast that Lou couldn't stop herself from bumping into him. He gripped her forearms to help her rebalance as he dug his heels into the snow. She could feel him staring at her as he waited for answers to questions that he hadn't asked yet. Embarrassment blanketed her like the snow blanketed the rooftops of the houses around them.

He decided that she might not mind holding his hands because she had been so kind to do so earlier. So, he released her forearms and squeezed both of her hands. They stood there in the middle of the street, holding hands and listening to the world in silence. Soon a woman with her dog on a long leash walked by on the sidewalk. They could hear they dog panting while the woman chatted on her wireless headset.

"No, Myka. I told you the Yuan portfolio is our top priority before year end," she said. "Are you kidding me, right now? Uh huh. Uh huh. Mmm. What do you expect me to do from James City, Myka? Uh huh. Well it's my vacation home."

The woman walked up to the only house with a short gate around its front yard and went inside with her dog following beside her.

Watching the woman unleash her dog, Lou asked Ravi jokingly, "You think Myka will get the job done?"