7 Up soda pop mixed with bright pink grenadine with a chemical-tasting maraschino cherry stuck to the plastic straw. It was one of those drinks marketed for children, but Mandy could see that she wasn’t the only adult ordering one. For some reason or other these old-fashioned restaurants always seemed to attract old ladies ordering strawberry Jell-O with whipped cream, truck drivers ordering “worms and dirt” (chocolate pudding with Oreo cookies squished over the top in a glass bowl, fruit-flavoured gummy worms over the cookie crumbs) and businessmen trying not to get syrup from their hot fudge sundaes on their neckties and tailored suits. Mandy figured that maybe they were all trying to grasp a time way back in the past when they were all little children, excitedly ordering desert for a special occasion under the warm incandescent light from above, cheerful and bouncing music filling their minds. Hurriedly she ate the food, paid the tab and hurried back to her car in the bitter wind, not wanting to stick around for very long.
Why do we have to do this in the middle of the night?” Taylor asked.“Because we don’t want the whole town knowing why we’re going and where we’re going.”“How can I tell anyone if I don’t even know myself?” Taylor stuck out her lower lip.“Water. We’re going to look for water,” Sam said.He could almost hear the wheels in Taylor’s head spinning. Then, “OMG, we’re out of water?” She bit her lip, took a couple of dramatic breaths, and wailed, “Do you mean we’re all going to die?”“That would be a pretty good example of why we’re keeping this secret,” Sam said dryly.“I just need to go—”“Uh-uh!” Sam said. “No you don’t, Taylor. You don’t bounce anywhere or talk to anyone without me agreeing. Are we clear?”“You know, Sam, you’re nice. And so very, very hot,” Taylor said. “But you’re not really much fun.”“Let’s get out of here while we can,” Dekka said. “I brought a gun, by the way.”“Are we going to be in danger?” Taylor cried.“The gun’s in case you get on my nerves, Taylor,” Dekka warned.“Oh, so funny,” Taylor said.