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Shook Chapter 10 part 2: Bloody Mary
After a long plane ride, the Blues have made it to Arizona! What fun adventures await the family of nine and their friend!?
“Dad…it’s too hot outside…”
Azure had his back to the sun-beams as he slowly staggered through the peachish-brown dirt.
“Oh, you’re fine.” Mr. Blue said smiling. He was the one leading the team through this dirt crunching, sun sweltering walk.
The plane had landed in Phoenix and after days of traveling, the family was happy to be at their trip destination. Lot’s of chatting and laughing went on when Mr. Blue said he was taking them to a park.
When Dyan thought of parks, she thought of benches, slides, and kids running around yelling. She did not think of sandy planes spotted with cacti and huge rocks. So it was a huge surprise when Mr. Blue hauled a taxi van to a place with orange sands and brown, curvy mountains. He leaned his head out the window and said, “We’ve made it to Papago park!”
“You must’ve made a wrong turn,” said Wild Yonder. “You said we were going to a park, not the middle of nowhere.”
“Nope, this is the place!” As soon as the car stopped Mr. Blue was hopping out. “Get ready, because we’ve got a long day of walkn’ ahead!”
Warm sweat made Dyan’s shirt stick to her back. Every time she breathed in, her lungs hurt. Far off, things looked kind of blurry and wavy, which Navy explained was due to heat waves.
“I don’t know how much more of this I can take…” Dyan said, shading her eyes with her hand.
“Can we go to a pool after this?” Maya asked.
“Y’all should stop being sour sports and enjoy the scenery,” Mr. Blue said, smiling while glancing up at the cloudless sky.
“Yes, the mountains are great but Dad? The sun is cooking me alive,” Royal said, sweat streaming down her forehead.
Mr. Blue ignored her complaint. He looked towards the rocky hills. “Today, we are gonna climb those rocky hills!”
Maya gasped. She pointed at the one they were nearing. “We’re gonna climb these mountains!? Like that one!?”
“They’re not mountains, there more like hills, but yes! We will be climbing those!” Mr. Blue smiled, spreeding up.
Dyan looked forward into the dessert. The hill they were approaching was lumpy and reddish-brown. It had three holes near the top that looked like an eye, nose and mouth whole. It was as if someone had tried to clay mold a T-Rex head and failed.
In the eye hole, Dyan saw two colored dots that seemed to be moving in it. She pointed them out.
“What are those things?”
“Things? They’re People!” answered Mr. Blue. “They've made it to the top, and are sitting in the big hole! Imagine the view from up there!”
Dyan knew she couldn’t climb a rocky hill! She had never hiked a day in her life, especially not in a dessert, where she could pass out instantly. And that hill looked steep! What if she fell out of the hole at the top!?
Dyan took a shaky, dry gulp. “Woah, uh, I don’t know if I’m gonna go,”
Maya's smile disappeared. “Why not?”
“It’s… well, it’s scary! Look how high of a hike that’s gonna be! What if I trip and fall off the hill?”
“You’d think I’d let that happen?” asked Mr. Blue.
Maya sighed. “You can’t worry about every little thing, Dyan! That’s like me worrying if a snake is gonna pop out and bite me right now.”
Dyan then looked at her surroundings. Besides cacti, there were lots of big rocks and bushes lying around in the sand. She then held her hand up. “Actually, I didn’t think of that, but dessert snakes do exist!”
Maya huffed and shook her head.
“You’ll have time to get a hold of your nerves soon. We’re going to the zoo first,” said Navy.
“Ooh! The zoo! I wanna see some zoo animals!” yelled True.
“I think the zoo is closed today.” Mr. Blue said, reading one of the white flyers at the front desk. It wasn’t more than five minutes later and the family was crowded around the gates of the zoo entrance.
A chorus of “aw’s” came from most of the Blues. Not Maya though.
“That’s fine by me. I don’t like zoos. How dare they capture animals and put them on display for others?” she said, crossing her arms while standing on a nearby bench.
“Off the bench, Maya. Sorry kids, I guess we’re going to have to do what’s next on this list, climb the rock hills!” Mr. Blue smiled and swung an arm.
“This was your plan the whole time, wasn’t it?” Mrs. Blue shook her head and gave baby Teal her sippy cup of water.
“I still need water,” Azure whispered raspily.
Mr. Blue smacked his teeth and lowered his eyelids at his son. “Oh shaddup. There’s a vending machine right there.”
“Ooh! Can I get soda!?” Azure’s eyes widened and he ran to the vending machine.
“Uh-uh, soda ain't gonna hydrate you, water is, so we're all getting waters!” Mrs. Blue yelled after her children.
Soon enough the children were passing around the precious waters they bought to split amongst the family.
“You don’t want any water, Maya?” asked Mrs. Blue.
“Nope! I feel great ! I wanna climb that big rock right there!” Maya pointed to the huge rock with a few holes in it.
Dyan’s stomach started to do cartwheels, just as Maya was doing in real life.
The family walked to a place with little benches and Mr. Blue turned to face the team.
“Okay, this is the no going back point, who’s coming and who’s watching?”
Mrs. Blue was the first to answer. “Well, Baby Teal can’t climb, so I’m staying down here with her.”
“And I’m not going cause it looks boring,” True said with her arms crossed.
Mr. Blue tossed his hands at them as if he were a waiter handing out plates. “Excuses, excuses. Anyone else staying?”
Mr. Blue turned to Dyan in specifics. “Dyan?”
Will Dyan muster up the courage climb the hill? Find out what happens next in the next part!
New to Shook? You can find the chapter archive in this post.
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