Page 12 of A Light in the Dark

TWELVE

I choose the adventure.

After sending my winged guest home, I slept like the dead, getting out of bed far later than usual. As I had a vegetable garden to plant, I trudged to the street and headed up the hill to catch a cab. I discovered Joel hard at work in his front garden, turning it into a shrine to all things marigolds.

The local luna moths would swarm the place, of that I had no doubt.

“You look like I usually do in the morning,” Joel informed me with a rather lopsided grin. “Did you handle planting your entire garden or something yesterday?”

“I have zero self-restraint, even less self-respect, and I have to go back to the stupid store because I need herbs and vegetables. As planting from seed is cheaper, I am going that route.”

Joel rose to his feet, brushed his hands clean of most dirt, and asked, “Need a lift?”

“I was going to get a cab, but if you could use another adventure to the garden store, I’m not going to say no. I can pay for lunch this time to make up for the gas.”

“I’ll bring the SUV around in a few minutes,” he said, hopping out of his flower bed and heading to the door leading into his home.

I suspected the man had decided he would be participating in Sunday gardening due to having heard me discuss my gardening plans with Roger, working in his front beds to give himself an easy opportunity to go back to the store. As I’d been wise, I’d made a shopping list of things to get, and all top twenty of luna moth’s favorite meals were involved. I’d starred the ones that I would buy as grown plants ready to flower and entice my neighbor over for his evening visits.

Now that I had seen luna moths up close and personal, I would be going out of my way to lure them to my home to enjoy their ethereal beauty. With luck, I’d get the entire lot of them visiting.

Trellises were on my list, and I planned on acquiring more than a few species of climbing roses notorious for plentiful, large blooms and strong vines. To maximize my odds of acquiring an entire swarm of luna moths, I intended to get an arching trellis, install a bird bath underneath it so the shifters could drink, and train the vines to completely cover the trellis.

Then I would place my patio furniture on the other side of my garden to observe them getting higher than kites on the bounty.

Joel pulled up, and I hopped in, buckled up, and then closed the door.

To my amusement, he pressed the lock button to keep me from fleeing his custody. “You have a choice to make. We can go to the boring garden store nearby or we can go on an adventure to the super-secret and special garden store. The only thing I am promising is that I will return you to your domicile a minimum of ten hours before you have to go to work tomorrow.”

Ten hours would let me sleep, although I would not be planting any of my acquisitions until the following evening. “I choose the adventure.”

Joel grinned. “Excellent. As you are choosing adventure, I am responsible for fuel and feeding. You can pretend you have been kidnapped and protest for my amusement.”

Bursting into laughter, I considered the man, raising a brow at his antics. “Did you add sugar to your coffee this morning?”

“After the third accidental teaspoon, I decided to find out what syrupy coffee tasted like. Disgusting yet delicious. I have a disturbing understanding why people buy weird drinks at coffee shops now.”

As commenting about getting high off roses and marigolds would reveal I knew a little more about his probable tendencies than I wanted to admit yet, I allowed myself to giggle over the thought of him riding a sugar high. “Dare I ask what is at the better garden store?”

“Earth roses.”

Well, I foresaw the complete destruction of my budget, inquiries on working overtime, and the loss of my sanity. “We got Earth roses?”

“Somebody rescued a seed bank, and it included numerous varieties of Earth roses. Someone bought the bank and decided to try to plant a bunch of the flowers. The roses have been doing exceptionally well, and he’s selling because he can’t keep thousands of rose plants. He had something like a ninety percent success rate on getting them to sprout.”

“That’s crazy.”

“He even knows which varieties there are. I called last night, and he promised to hold a bunch for me. Not only is he holding a bunch for me, he’s going to loan me a trailer to get everything back here safe and sound. There’ll be plenty of space for anything you want to buy.”

“And it is actually a garden store?”

“It is, but it isn’t a chain type like the one we went to yesterday. He should have plenty of plants and seeds you can buy.”

“When I roll into work looking worse for wear, I’m blaming you.”

Joel snickered. “I think I can handle Humphrey. Do feel free to blame me, though. Do you own a camera?”

A camera? I frowned and shook my head. “I don’t.”

“We’re going to rectify that, because you will want to take pictures where we’re going. I brought mine with me, but I don’t have a spare. As I’m kidnapping you, the least I can do is provide a camera to keep you amused while I enjoy the scenery.”

Men existed to confuse me, but if being a kidnapping victim meant I’d get to play with a camera and see something pretty, I would not complain. “One of the disposable film ones?”

“I’m going to buy us a pair of those just for fun because I haven’t used one of those in years . I’ll probably get you a decent little point and shoot unless you fall in love with something in the store. I’ll take you to my favorite shop and set you loose. It’ll only take us thirty extra minutes, and it’ll be fun.”

Did luna moths hopped up on roses and marigolds lose their minds and chase fun? If so, I would need to buy even more roses, take advantage of any camera purchases, and make an entire journal dedicated to the antics of luna moths when shifted and in human form.

Then I’d text Roger and tell him I’d have a hard time helping him if I kept getting distracted by the local wildlife.

“I could use some fun.”

“So could I. Outside of gaming and gardening, I haven’t done a whole lot just for fun lately. My camera was gathering dust, and I haven’t left the city in a while. Roses just make a really good excuse to try a little harder at living.”

I could understand that. When news of Earth’s destruction had hit, I’d had similar thoughts. I wondered if Gabriella’s plight had made him think about the little things more. The job fair would be an issue, but I wondered if Joel might be able to offer advice. “Hey, Joel? I have an odd question for you.”

Joel pulled away from the curb, and once we were on the way, he glanced at me out of the corner of his eye. “Go for it.”

“Do companies use job fairs, really? Like, do those things actually partner employees with employers?”

“Oh. You must have heard the ad. They can, but we don’t usually have them in Stonecreek. This one is being done because of the refugee situation.”

Bingo. No wonder Roger wanted me to go have a look. “Do you think asking my boss if we should go have a look for prospective employees might be a good thing?”

“As your company would get all the hiring benefits for taking on refugees, yes. My place of employment is planning on grabbing every refugee we can get our hands on. We’re about to expand, and we need the extra bodies. I’m also concerned about the refugee situation, so if I can employ a bunch of them, they should be safe enough.”

My curiosity over what he did for work stirred, but unless he offered the information, I wouldn’t pry. “Won’t housing be a problem?”

“After talking to you and your boss, I passed word along in my company we should consider the same tactic. I believe the current plan is to buy land right outside the city, build an apartment complex, shore everything up, and handle it that way. They’ll count as residents for purposes of the city, but they’ll be at the bottom of the hill outside of the flood drain zones. We’ll build with tall, shored foundations, though. We’d be able to establish an office on commercial land nearby, so they’d live right next to work.”

Unless there was a catastrophic flood, the kind that happened every few hundred years, the refugees would be safe enough. The shored properties, like mine, would survive even a catastrophe, although the magic would have to be renewed.

We’d be digging bodies out of the rubble for the unlucky, and the thought of rebuilding staggered me.

“Okay. I’ll mention it to my boss, and I’ll blame you if he’s concerned I’ve been too uppity.”

“For some reason, I seriously doubt you get uppity at work. I’m thinking you reserve your uppity ways for after hours and when set loose in a garden store,” he teased.

I giggled as he wasn’t wrong. “I do like my job and wish to keep it, so I generally behave while at the office. Work is a little harder for me to acquire since I wasn’t born in Stonecreek.”

“If you have problems at your work, come visit me. My company doesn’t participate in that nonsense. We hire good people. And since you’ve been at the same place since moving in, I’m assuming you fall solidly into the good people category. Good people are priceless, and they make or break companies.”

As having additional work options was always a good thing, I replied, “Thank you. I appreciate that.”

“What do you do, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“I handle all the paperwork that comes into a bookkeeping firm. I make sure the right accountants or legal people get the correct files, follow up with corporations if they forgot to send us things, and so on. We handle tax preparation, too.”

Joel shot a look at me. “That’s pretty important stuff. You made a comment about your education level? What’s that about?”

“I’m a high school graduate, but that’s it. Instead of pursuing education, I took my grant and bought my house instead.”

“If you got the education grant, you scored well in school, especially if the grant was enough to pay for an entire house in Stonecreek.”

“I got the house for a pittance. But I thought it was a better fiscal choice to have a home, paid for in full, than it was to get more education. I could afford my house with a job being a janitor, but I moved up in the company in a hurry. I stayed a janitor all of two weeks, and then they doubled my pay and opened the position I’m now in. ”

“That’s great. It sounds like they saw you were a good employee and made better use of you. And with your property paid off in full, you wouldn’t need to earn nearly as much as those struggling with mortgage payments.”

I nodded. “I invested everything left over from the purchase into shoring my home, and I put the rest into savings. If it wasn’t for the Hunters helping out with parts of the bill, I would be clearing out my savings on the new shoring work, but I understand the importance of safety during the floods.”

“I suspect your house is going to be even better shored than mine by the time you’re done.” Joel laughed. “Maybe I should come over and visit you right before the floods start next time. Then I’d have good company and not just pace around worrying about how much damage I’ll have to repair.”

“You’d have to sit in the bay window with me, reading books and keeping an eye on the flood waters for anyone in need of rescue. It’s strenuous work.” I snickered at the thought of a self-proclaimed reader being forced to relax and read. “It might be too much for you to handle.”

“I am sure I can handle such challenging and difficult work. I am an experienced reader.”

“I’m afraid you’re going to have to prove that to me, Joel. This is very serious business.”

“How am I supposed to prove my reading experience?”

I grinned at the thought of putting Joel to the test. “You’re going to have to show me your library and reading nook, of course.”

“Wait. I’m supposed to have a reading nook? I’ve been reading in bed. ”

“While beds are an excellent place to read, a truly experienced reader has a nook and a library.”

“My library is on my digireader. Does that count?”

“I suppose. But you should at least have a small collection of paper books in a variety of subjects. I have an entire room in my home dedicated to paper books.” I lifted my chin and sniffed. “Paper books do not require electricity, and I keep a stock of candles and a lantern in case the electricity goes out.”

“I have two backups. One is a fancy battery that can last several days, and the other is a gas generator.”

“I really should get a generator one of these days, but tell me more about this battery.”

“I can do better than tell you about it. I’ll show you. They sell the portable one at the camera store, and they’ll order the household ones on request.”

“This camera store is about to launch a sneak attack on my wallet, isn’t it?”

“Tsk, tsk. No, it’s about to launch a sneak attack on my wallet. I already promised to pay for our indulgences today. Kidnapping victims just have to come along quietly and enjoy the ride.”

I clapped my hands to my cheeks. “Oh, no. I’ve been kidnapped. Whatever will I do?”

“You are at high risk of enjoying yourself and emerging with a story to tell,” Joel informed me in a solemn tone. “You might even end up with vegetables for your garden and some flowers to enjoy.”

“The horror!”

“You might even have to cope with eating steak at some point today. ”

“Was my love of all things beef that obvious yesterday?”

My neighbor snickered. “Valerie, you snarfed that burger down like you feared it might jump off your plate and require you to hunt it down. I thought you’d start growling for a second there. If a burger is enjoyed, I thought offering a steak might be a safe bet.”

“You are not wrong. When I eat chicken, I try to spice it into oblivion because chicken is just not the one true meat. Beef is the one true meat. My boss’s neighbor paid me in good steaks to help fix her steps, Joel. If building steps paid in steaks, I’d consider giving up my day job.”

He laughed at me. “When we enjoy our steaks today, I will tell you a story of one of the extremes I went to for a good roast. It remains a pride and a shame to this very day.”

While curious, I accepted the wait with good cheer. “Then I suppose we best get this show on the road, else I may perish from the mystery of what scandalous thing you did for a good roast. I just have one question. Was it a prime rib?”

“As a matter of fact, yes. It was.”

“Then chances are, the shame was worth it. If given the opportunity, I might do some seriously shady shit for a good prime rib.”

“It’s good to know we’re on the same page regarding the importance of prime rib.”

The sole employee in the camera shop greeted Joel by name, reached under the counter, and pulled out a bag, which he held up in triumph. “Your new baby arrived early. I was about to give you a call.”

Much like he had in the garden shop, Joel bounced to the counter, hauling his backpack with him, snagged the prize, and dug inside, pulling out a massive box depicting a camera lens. “Oh, you sweet darling. Daddy is going to take good care of you.”

All right. I could only assume Joel didn’t just like taking pictures, but that he had a photography hobby to go along with his gardening. I approached, peering at the lens box with interest. I had no idea what the numbers meant, but I’d seen the brand before, something popular with professionals documenting the lives of wildlife around the world.

Joel took off his pack, set it on the counter, and opened it, revealing camera equipment and an empty slot large enough for the huge lens. He took out a camera, removed a cap from it, and installed the lens.

It reminded me of a rather large gun with a ridiculous barrel, ready to shoot plants, animals, and people alike.

Unlike with a gun, there’d be no victims when he shot them, only photographs.

The store’s employee, Chuck according to his name tag, settled into the important business of discussing the lens and its myriad of features to an attentive Joel. As the men had forgotten about me, not that I blamed them, I wandered the store, peering into cabinets to behold the plethora of cameras available for the brave, the bold, and the wealthy.

According to the price tags, if I wanted a camera that looked even remotely like Joel’s, I’d have to dish out several thousand dollars.

Fortunately for my sanity, I found the section dedicated to the modest point and shoots, which came in at a couple hundred and fell more into my comfort zone.

Then I made the mistake of peering into a cabinet with colorful camera bodies and lenses.

There was one the same brilliant green of a luna moth’s wings, and it had a set of five matching lenses. I had no idea what the numbers meant, but the color thrilled me, and I resisted the urge to put my nose against the glass for a closer look.

There was even a matching backpack for it, and given a needle, some thread, and a few hours, I could decorate it with luna moths. It’d been a while since I’d done any embroidery, but the set would give me a good excuse to take Madeline to a craft store.

I could even get creative with my stitched moths, designing them in several different colors.

I engaged the camera in a staring contest, debating if I wanted to make use of the credit card I owned and put purchases on several times a month to make sure it stayed active.

The card could handle the purchase, and depending on how my garden store acquisitions went, I wouldn’t carry a balance for long.

At over a thousand dollars, I wouldn’t be allowing Joel to run off with the receipt. I could have dealt with one of the hundred dollar point and shoots, but not the pretty green one with accessories.

I dug out my phone, took a picture of the camera, and texted it to Roger, asking if he knew anything about such devices, if I was crazy for wanting it, and if it might be worth acquiring. A moment later, my phone rang .

Joel and Chuck paid me no mind, and laughing over how the huge lens had charmed them both, I answered, “Hey.”

“That’s actually a really good little camera for its price. It’s in the top of our tech brackets, and it packs a hell of a punch.”

“But why is it so cheap? There are cameras without any lenses that cost three times as much.” I stared at the backpack, which appeared to be a canvas version of Joel’s. “Joel’s backpack is made of leather, and this one is canvas, but they look really similar.”

“Take a picture of his backpack and send it to me.”

After some juggling with the phone, I went to Joel’s backpack, tapped him on the shoulder, and asked, “Can I take a picture of your bag?” To make it clear I was playing around with my inferior phone-based tech, I waved it at him.

With practiced efficiency, he checked his gear, closed the bag, and stood it up so I could take a photo of it.

I thanked him, wandered back to the case, and sent the image to Roger.

“Okay. That’s the same brand of bag, just a higher end model. Joel’s bag is made of waterproofed leather, so if it rains, his gear won’t come to any harm. The canvas bags can be waterproofed, though. The store might even sell the spray to do it. It’s a good bag, and even the canvas models will withstand a beating while protecting your gear. The camera is probably on sale to help encourage new photographers and is meant as an entry enticement. Most professionals go for the extra features. Look at the tag on the camera. What is its FPS?”

I read the label, and after a few moments, I found the information he wanted. “Fifteen. ”

“The high end cameras can do thirty or higher. Fifteen is solid, however. Shutter speed?”

After another search, I found the appropriate label and said, “Twenty thousand.”

“That’s damned good. Unless you decide to go into professional photography, that camera will do you justice.”

“You know about cameras?”

“I know just enough to get myself into trouble with the actual photographers,” he admitted. “But if you buy that camera, the Hunters can compensate you for it, as you can use it to help us take photographs of the situation. Just text me with a copy of the receipt, all right?”

“Only part of it, because I will be playing with this with wild abandon.”

Roger chuckled. “We’ll go in fifty-fifty, how does that sound?”

I could work with fifty-fifty. “All right. I’m going in. I must figure out how to convince a headstrong man I can buy my own camera stuff.”

“I wish you the best of luck with that. Take care.”

I shoved my phone back into my pocket, went to the counter, and spent a few minutes listening to Chuck gush over the lens. Once I worried I would die of boredom, I reached over, tapped the man’s wrist, and pointed in the direction of the cabinet with the green camera. “Can you show me something while Joel makes friends with that lens?”

“I can test it while you show her,” my neighbor muttered, his gaze fixed on his camera’s display.

Excellent. Once I lured Chuck to the cabinet, I pointed at the green set and its matching bag. “I know nothing about cameras, but I love the color, and I want that set with the backpack.” To make certain Joel didn’t swoop in and pay for me, I dug out my credit card and held it out. “Joel wants to get two disposable film cameras for us to play with.”

Chuck laughed, read the labels, and said, “I should have an unopened box in the back of that set in that color, but if not, I’ll pack up the display set for you. Nobody has even tested it, so it’s as new as it gets.”

“You can just pack the display set into the backpack. The boxes will be escorted to a recycling bin immediately upon departure from the store.”

Under no circumstances would I allow empty boxes to breed in my house.

According to the man’s pained sigh, I’d committed some sort of sin.

With narrowed eyes, I asked, “Why do you sound like I just ran over a brand new camera body with Joel’s SUV?”

“The boxes improve their resale value.”

“As I will not be selling my prize, that is not a factor. That camera will only be taken out of my cold, dead hands. The color is perfect as is the bag.”

“You haven’t even seen the inside of it yet.”

I shook my head. “I wouldn’t know what a good camera bag looks like on the inside even if you slapped me with one, and the outside is perfect. A friend told me the camera is a good one, and it will do everything a beginner who probably will never get a better camera needs.”

After pulling a set of keys out of his pocket, Chuck opened the case, picked up the body, and installed the smallest of the lenses on it before flipping a switch, which turned the display on. He removed the lens cap, pointed it at the ground, and fiddled with the camera for a few minutes before nodding his satisfaction. “All right. This is in good working order. Your battery will need to be charged, but the set comes with a charger, so you’ll be good there.”

I held up two fingers. “You can sell me two spare batteries and anything I need to make it charge in Joel’s SUV.”

He grinned, nodded, and dug out the bag from the case, opened it, and began loading in the camera and my new lenses, taking the time to explain how the adjustable compartments worked while setting it up to neatly hold all my gear. Once he finished, he grabbed two boxes from a shelf nearby and tossed them into one of the empty sections. “You will want a better memory chip. This one will last you about ten minutes before it fills up on you. I set the camera for smaller file sizes, as you won’t need the extra file format as an amateur. If you decide you want to work with the RAW files, Joel can teach you. I set the camera up to be the highest photo quality without the extra RAW file.”

“I guess hook me up with two or three chips that can hold a lot?”

“It’ll be about three hundred,” he warned.

I shrugged. “That’s fine. Do I need anything to make the chip put it somewhere else?”

“This model can wirelessly transfer files to phones and computers, but you can get a chip reader for about thirty dollars.”

“Hook me up with the chip reader, too.”

Within five minutes, Chuck had the backpack ready, handed it off to me, and escorted me to the counter, where he began the process of ringing me up, armed with my card. He paused long enough to get me to confirm the amount before finalizing the payment. Once I had my wallet back in my purse where it belonged, I discovered my new backpack could carry everything I needed with some space to spare.

The entire time, Joel played with his camera, lost in an entirely different world. Chuck grinned at my neighbor, shook his head, and went off, returning with four different boxes. Two I recognized as disposable film cameras, which held twenty-five shots each. The other two boxes were also film cameras, and like the fancy ones, they did not come with lenses. “I hear you want to play with film, Joel.”

That caught my neighbor’s attention, and he removed the big lens from his camera, put the caps back on, and packed everything into his bag. “I do.”

“These are the best disposables I have, and if you’re wanting to play with film with your friend, you want these puppies. They’ll ding you seven hundred each, plus a hundred each for the lens you want with them. Each roll of film will cost you twenty dollars.”

“Twenty rolls of film, please.” Joel picked up the box for the new toy, flipped it over, and read the back. “You’ll treat me nicely when it’s time to develop this, right?”

“I’ll think about it,” Chuck replied with a grin. “You left your friend unattended, and she went on a bit of a spree.”

Joel shot me a look. “I was going to buy your camera!”

I pointed at the new film camera. “But you are buying my camera. This is a second camera, which I’m buying for me. It’s green. I picked it based on its color.” I turned and showed him my new backpack. “This is also green, and I love it. I think it’ll hold that camera, too.”

“It’ll hold it with no problems,” Chuck confirmed. “While you were playing, she phoned a friend and asked about the camera, if it would be good for her, and found out about the bag. The bag is a steal, honestly. That puppy usually costs two hundred, but it was in the bundle for seventy-five.”

“Good buy, Valerie.” Joel dug out his wallet and handed over a card. “Did she get extra batteries and memory chips?”

“She did.”

“Get her two extra batteries and two extra chips on me since she stole my thunder.”

I laughed at my neighbor’s excess. “That’s not necessary, but thank you.”

“You’ll appreciate them. I’ve blown through ten batteries in a single photography session before.” Once Joel had his additions to my collection in hand, he gave them to me. “I should apologize. I’ve been waiting for that lens for weeks, and I wasn’t expecting it for another two or three at the earliest. I got excited.”

I took my new plunder, laughed, and put it in my backpack along with the new film camera, my share of the rolls, and the lens, all of which were still in their boxes. While it took a little work, I managed to fit everything along with my purse. “Don’t be sorry for being excited or happy about something. However, I am going to insist we leave the store, because we are engaging in an adventure, and we have acquired everything we need for said adventure.”

Joel grinned, waved to Chuck, and picked up his bag. “I’m sure I’ll be back soon enough.”

“I’m sure you will be, and maybe next time, you’ll show a little restraint.”

“Never!”

I laughed, headed for Joel’s SUV, and waited for him to unlock the door. My new bag fit at my feet with plenty of room to spare. Once he had the vehicle started, I said, “I may need more practice at being a kidnapping victim.”

“I definitely need more practice at being a kidnapper. Had I been doing my job, I would have caught you in the act and stolen the bill. Instead, I allowed a seductress of a lens to hold my complete attention.”

“You can show me how your new darling works later,” I promised. “At the same time, you can teach me how to use my new camera. Chuck put it together for me, but unless I get a lot of help, I will be carrying around four extra lenses without a clue in hell of how to use anything.”

“I think I am qualified to help you with that, and I’ll try my best to make you not regret it.”