It’s our first night here at FreedomFest and Jeremy thinks it wouldn’t count as ‘failing his job as campsite cook’ if he popped off the site to buy us a pizza or some ready-made sandwiches for tea. Nadia is having none of this.
“But it’s our first official FreedomFest feast! I want it to be special! Something we’ve made on our stove and made from scratch!” She argues.
“What about I get some spaghetti hoops or some beans and have some bread and butter on the side?” He asks.
“Are we going to make any of that from scratch?”
“N-no.” His facial expression drops. Judy laughs. Luckily she always knows how to solve an argument.
“How about you go buy us some potatoes and toppings, and salad, and all that jazz. We can have my favourite, Jacket Potatoes!” She suggests, patting Jeremy on his chest for moral support. She turns to Nadia. “We can help prepare toppings whilst Beck and Henry chop up vegetables and Jeremy cooks the potatoes on the stove.”
“Oo! Yes please!” Nadia cheers.
“Judy?” I say.
“Yes?” She replies.
“Is it ok if I go for a walk around the campsite? I’d like to know where everything is.” I ask.
“That's fine, but I don’t think there's going to be much to do. The rides don’t open till after the sessions this evening.” She turns back to Jeremy.
“Do you want me to come?” Beck puts his hand on my shoulder. He knows the real reason I’m going for a walk. I nod to him silently.
“You two have an hour so no aimlessly wandering around. Make use of the time you have. This will be the last chance to look around before it gets dark.” Jeremy tells us. We wander down the road. 178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1kkHrDiPLo
“So, where are we going?” Beck asks.
“I don’t mind if you want to stay or whether you wanted to walk around for a bit but I was going to call Randy to check up on how its going at Winston’s.” I wobble.
“Oh yeah, no problem. I need to scope out where the bathrooms are anyways.” He pats me on the back before leaving and as if on cue, Randy starts calling me.
“Hey Hen, how are you?” It’s his ever comforting voice coming through the speakers. I immediately relax.
“I’m fine. How are you? How’s it going? When do you think you’ll get here?”
“We’re doing fine. Winston’s sister Amelie is on her way now but she’s going to take a while because of traffic. I don’t think we’ll make it to the first session.” My breath quickens.
“Will you be okay setting up in the dark?” I panic.
“Yeah. We should be there before the sun goes down.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes Hen, I’m sure. Don’t worry about it.” I hear footsteps coming and then someone is talking but I can’t tell who.
“Yeah, I’m talking to Henry.” Randy informs the mystery person. “One sec Hen, I’m just passing you over to Winston.
“Winston.” I murmur.
“Hey Henry, how are you?”
“Good, has your sister arrived?” I start pacing back and forth.
“Yeah, I just let her in. She’s going to feed A-J whilst we pack the car and then we’re going to leave. Are you on site already? What’s it like?”
“It’s nice. We haven’t seen much yet but the rides open when the sessions finish so when you arrive we can go on them straight away!” He chuckles.
“Great! That sounds like fun! We’re going to stop to eat on the way because the car ride will be too long for A-J to go without being fed but we can keep you updated if that will help with stress.” He could tell it in my voice, I knew it.
“Okay then, see you guys later.”
“Yeah. I love you!” Randy yells in the background.
“I love you too!” I say back.
“Bye Henry.” Winston says, I can hear him smiling. I hang up.178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj4CHgUMwc8
(A big thank you to AlabamaBeefBrisket for beta reading all of my chapters before uploading them. 🥳)178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoTPHS4X0xc
