She turned to see Cook looking even more haggard than usual.
‘What’s up?’
‘Ye’d better come look,’ Cook said.
She followed him back to the kitchen, where he gestured to a wall with a finality that suggested it perfectly explained his mood. Briar looked at it, and then back at him, not understanding.
Cook sighed. ‘There’s a hole.’
‘What?’ Briar said, inspecting the wall more closely and finding a small hole near the baseboard, hidden by shadow. ‘Jesus, where does this go?’
‘To the crawl space,’ Cook said, drawing in a deep breath, ‘where the racoons are living.’
‘Raccoons?’ Briar tried to keep the panic out of her voice. Like spiders, small mammals with creepy little fingers were a definite phobia.
Cook nodded grimly, opening the pantry door. ‘They got into me buns. Hotdogs and hamburgers, even the brioche.’
Briar suppressed the childish impulse to laugh as she surveyed the damage. There were fluffy crumbs and half-eaten buns scattered all over. Just one more thing to add to the never-ending list of problems.
‘Hmm,’ she said unhelpfully. ‘I guess we’re not grilling tonight.’
Cook leveled her with a look that would’ve terrified her younger self.
‘I’ll just go out for more bread,’ she said quickly.
‘And some caulk,’ Cook said. Briar blinked at him. ‘For the hole.’
‘Right,’ Briar said, tamping down a hysterical giggle. ‘That too. Be back in a jiffy.’
Nearly two hours later, Briar pulled back into the parking lot, her trunk filled with every bread roll available within county lines and one tube of caulk. She hopped out of the car, loading her arms in an attempt to carry everything in one trip.
‘Where were you?’ Alice materialized beside her, grabbing the remaining grocery bags and closing the trunk. Briar looked at the bags and then back at Alice.
‘Give you one guess.’
‘You didn’t tell anyone you were leaving,’ Alice said, and Briar noticed that she looked frantic, her hair disheveled and eyes wild. ‘We went looking.’
‘I told Cook,’ Briar said, starting down the path to the mess hall.
She could practically hear Alice roll her eyes. ‘Someone reliable.’
‘Did you need something?’ Briar asked, attempting to wedge her foot into the gap of the open kitchen door. ‘I’m busy.’
‘Yes, actually,’ Alice said, grabbing the handle and yanking the door open. ‘Cabin 5 has lice.’
‘Gross.’ The modicum of peace Briar had found away from camp slipped away. ‘Keep them quarantined and get a nurse.’
‘We don’t have a nurse,’ Alice said, dropping her bags on the counter and crossing her arms. ‘As the only one with more than basic first aid training, you’re our nurse, i.e., you should’ve been here.’
She let it slide that Alice had just said the phrasei.e.out loud in regular conversation. The look on her face told Briar that Alice would snap if she was outright mocked.
‘I was busy,’ Briar said again, through gritted teeth. ‘Just back off, yeah?’
‘Fine.’ Alice’s mouth pulled into a frown, the way it always would in school when she had wanted to argue with the teacher but had known it wasn’t worth it.
‘Good.’ Briar pushed a bag towards her. ‘Give this to Freddie on your way out, would you? I found an old video store in town, got them on clearance.’
Alice grabbed the bag on her way out of the room. Briar unloaded the groceries, shoving packages of rolls onto shelves haphazardly.
