“Maybe it’ll pass?” The optimism didn’t reach Amanda’s voice.
I flicked the phone, looking into the future. Rain. Maybea little further? More rain. Three days away? Rain! At what point did we consider it a Maine monsoon? Mother Nature had waged war, and we were defenseless to stop her. Umbrellas wouldn’t cut it. We’d have to build boats.
“Not just screwed. We’re majorly screwed.”
Jon gave me a pat on the shoulder. His eyes narrowed, and his lips pursed as he thought. He shook his head. “Nope. We’re not going down that easily.” Jon’s optimism couldn’t be dampened, not even by rain.
“It’s not like you can put a tarp over the green.”
“Harumph.” Apparently, I knocked his first idea down.
“Maybe not the whole green,” Amanda snuggled up behind him, resting her chin on his shoulder. “But what if we got tents?”
“You mean for the booths?” It wouldn’t be much different from Portland Pride. City hall had been surrounded by pop-up tents filled with vendors. “It might be our only option.” It was the smallest beacon of light on an otherwise gloomy day.
“On it,” Amanda said.
She and Jon raced behind the counter. While they furiously clicked on my laptop, I opened the door and stepped outside. The disbelief continued to mount. For months, I coordinated with the town, stopping at shop after shop to ensure everybody had a role. Legends had become a warehouse of swag for the convention. I could still see the eager smiles of the residents as I stood up at the town meeting to talk about our progress.
“We couldn’t have planned for this…”
The clouds over Firefly were a swirl of grays. If that was the worst of it, I would have puffed up my chest and pushed on. On the edges of the valley, the skies turned a dark purple. Despite it being early afternoon, the storm left the town in darkness. Even as Amanda and Jon scrambled for solutions, I had a sinking feeling we were only delaying the inevitable.
I held my hand out, just past the awning. The raindrops splashed against my palm. It had been almost a month since it rained more than a morning drizzle. We were due for a storm.
“Why did it have to be now?” It only needed to wait twenty-four hours, and we would have been in the clear.
With the turmoil I put myself through the last week, the weather felt like an extension of my mind. I had made things weird with Simon, a storm of its own. The universe manifested my emotions into a swirl of brooding darkness. A rumble of thunder passed overhead.
“A little on the nose?” I scoffed.
Did the universe send me a sign? I didn’t always buy into the universe speaking to me, but this was hard to ignore. It came as a wet slap on the ass, pushing me to decide. What had once been a nagging feeling had grown to a point I couldn’t ignore. If this were Boston, we’d have reached out to a convention center or a hotel. It’d be a disaster, but we’d have options.
I shook the water from my hand and turned to head inside. Through the glass, I watched Amanda and Jon asthey carried on a lively discussion. I’d miss them. Moving away wouldn’t hurt our friendship. They’d still visit, and I’d come back for long weekends. Nothing would ever change the threads that bound us together.
I opened the door. “Girl, look at the map. There’s no way.”
Amanda had her phone to her ear. “You have forty tents? I don’t think we’d need that many. Could we get them tonight?”
“You can’t drive to Boston that fast,” Jon said.
“When do you close?”
Whatever solution they found, Amanda’s disgruntled twitch of the nose said it had been kicked out from under them. “Are you sure there’s no way we can get them after hours?”
“We wouldn’t get there until at least seven.” She nodded her head. Her lips curled in as she waited for the answer. The muscles in her face relaxed as defeat set in. “No, that’s okay. Thanks for asking, though.” She ended the call. “We’d never get there in time.”
“Grr.” Jon didn’t hide his anger. As much as I wanted to have a tantrum right now, it felt futile. “What else can we do?”
“Call time of death,” I said.
“No,” they said in unison.
“What if we?—”
I shook my head. “I appreciate it, Jon. You too, Amanda. But I think it’s time we admit there’s no saving Firefly Con.” I thought I’d be revved up, but saying the wordsaloud eased the tension in my shoulders. I didn’t like it, but at least I could move on.
“Maybe…” Amanda leaned on the counter, resting her chin on her fists. “I don’t know.”
