“What the hell?” he mumbled, seeing three kids playing with something in a mud puddle in front of the store. “Those cabins aren’t open for another month.”
Zooming in, he saw it was three boys and none of them could be over ten. The way they were grinning as they played in the mud puddle, Arthur knew they were having fun.
Watching the three for half an hour, Arthur heard Nicole getting fussy. Without lowering the binoculars, he reached his other hand over to grab a bottle off the seat and put it to her mouth. Taking his eyes from the binoculars for a second, Arthur glanced down to see Nicole happily drinking.
When he put his eyes back to the binoculars, he saw the smallest boy had run into the store. After a few minutes, the boy came out eating something. The other two looked up and ran into the store and soon came back out, eating whatever the smaller one had gotten. “Well, I know they have formula there. I made a comment to Wendy when we stopped here after duck hunting this February. Wendy laughed because she said the formula was ten dollars more there,” Arthur told Nicole, but Nicole didn’t stop eating to answer.
Hoping he wasn’t heading for a trap, Arthur dropped the shifter into drive and put the binoculars down on the seat. He eased up the road and when he was a hundred yards from the store, the boys turned to see the jacked-up Blazer heading for them and ran to the side of the store. They ducked down watching as Arthur stopped by the single pump and put the shifter in park.
Turning the engine off, Arthur glanced around and saw a minivan parked at one of the cabins. Opening his door, he held his AR to his side so it wouldn’t bang around and held the bottle with his left hand. Finding coordination that he didn’t know he’d had, Arthur climbed out easily while keeping his right hand on the pistol grip of the AR and Nicole never stopped drinking.
Letting the AR go, Arthur stepped away from the Blazer door and left it open, but held the bottle with his left hand. He could shoot with his left but was much better with his right. “Hey, guys!” Arthur called out and waved toward the boys, then headed to the store. “Donald, Daisy, stay,” he said, hearing them move over the backseat.
The boys peeked around the corner as Arthur walked in the open door. Trash was scattered across the floor and from the looks of it, all of it was candy wrappers and soda cans. Having a good idea where that had come from, Arthur moved down the aisle he remembered and stopped.
“Oh, come on, one can?!” he cried out, grabbing the can of formula. He looked down at Nicole, shaking his head. “You believe this? They only have one can of your milk!”
Nicole didn’t seem to care as she continued drinking. Moving further down, Arthur saw several diapers but all of them were too big. “Two of your little ass could sleep in these,” he told Nicole who only wiggled, changing position in the sling.
Grabbing the smallest size, Arthur moved to the front and found the three boys standing in the door. Three very muddy and soaking wet boys. “Hi,” Arthur smiled, still holding the bottle with his left and the stuff he wanted in the sling with Nicole. His right arm hung at his side casually near the pistol grip of his AR.
He wasn’t worried about the boys, but who they might be with.
The two younger boys moved behind the oldest as he lifted his hand up. “Hi,” he said in shock.
“Old Man Turner around?” Arthur asked and the boys looked at each other and then back to Arthur. “The old man who runs the camp?” he clarified.
“No, sir,” the oldest answered, staring at Arthur like he was a ghost. “Is that a real gun?” he asked, pointing at the AR.
“Yes, it is. If someone tries to hurt my baby, they will learn quickly that is a bad idea,” Arthur told him and was shocked when the three boys stepped into the store.
“Are you sick?” the oldest asked and Arthur noticed his lips were starting to quiver.
Cocking his head to the side, “Not that I know of, are any of you?” he asked.
“Jim and I was, but we got better,” the oldest told him.
“Where’s your family?”
The oldest boy pointed out the door and up at the cabin with the minivan. “Dad brought us here when people started shooting around the house. We camped here last summer.”
“It’s a good spot,” Arthur said, pulling his wallet out and putting some bills on the counter and the boys looked at him in shock. They all turned to the stuff on the floor.
“We have to pay?” the oldest asked in shock.
Laughing as he put his wallet back, “Well, your dad will,” Arthur said and all three got a scared look on their faces. “Old Man Turner will make you clean up your mess.”
He was shocked to see the three relax, then the oldest spoke. “No, he got sick.”
“You saw him?”
The oldest nodded, “When daddy wouldn’t wake up, we went in the house behind the store and found him on the floor. He had bubbles on his mouth like everyone else after they get the Rudolph nose,” he said.
“Anyone else in your family have bubbles like that?”
“Momma, our sisters, Judy and Gwen, then daddy,” the
