Chapter Thirteen

Graham

"I don't know what the fuck a mummer parade is and I don't really care. I just want my room. The room that I made a reservation for."

"A mummer parade is an Old Folk Festival that celebrates the new year," the man behind the desk told me.

"I'm sorry, did I say that I suddenly decided that I was interested in what a mummer parade was? No, I really don't think that I did."

"Graham, calm down," Holly said. "It's going to be fine."

"I'm not going to calm down," I said. "I called and made a reservation. A reservation. That means that I reserved a room. I didn't suggest that I might like one, I didn't give them a heads up that I was on my way and see if maybe they could put something aside in the event that no one else was there. I made a reservation and now I'm standing here and he's telling me that I don't get the room that I reserved because apparently there are a bunch of mummies in it."

"Mummers," the man corrected.

"Again. I seriously don't give a fuck. It can be Frankenstein's monster and his band of merry zombies for all I care. I want them out of my room."

"I'm sorry, sir. There must have been a mix-up with the reservations. I see here that you called, but the computer says that you reserved a room for next week."

"Why would I reserve a room for next week, when I'm here right now. I made the reservation three hours ago and was told that there would be a suite waiting for me when I arrived. Why wouldn’t somebody tell me that my room was going to be full of mummies?"

"Mummers."

I swing my eyes over to the man behind the desk, who took a step back and suddenly became extremely invested in a brochure.

"There has to be something else," Holly said. "We made it this far. We'll find another hotel room for the night."

The man behind the desk, whose name I hadn't noticed and would only care about when it came time to contact the owners of the hotel, made a hissing sound between his teeth, a regretful expression coming to his face. I looked at him, trying to stay calm for Holly's sake.

"Is there a problem?" I asked, "Something you'd like to say?"

"It's just with the holidays and people coming in from all over to see the m----- the activities that will be happening around town over the course of the next couple of weeks, I doubt that you're going to be able to find any vacancies on this short of notice. That's why I'm surprised that anyone would have told you that there was a room available."

"Are you suggesting that I'm lying?"

"No, sir."

"Good."

"So, what are we supposed to do?" Holly asked.

Her wide green eyes looked tired and I knew that she couldn't bear the thought of climbing back onto the snowmobile and clinging to the bags as we made our way through to another town. Part of me vowed to never leave the city again. I couldn't understand being in a series of towns where there was not a single car to be rented, or a car lot that was open. A train, bus, plane, or any other means of getting around than continuing to glide along the melting snow in our stolen Snowmobile.

There was a country song in there somewhere. I might need to send that back to the hollow to Boom Boom. Though I had no personal evidence, I just had the feeling that that man had a banjo somewhere.

"There might be one option," the man behind the desk said, still holding the brochure in front of him as if it would somehow shield him.

"What's that?"

"Oh, you can't possibly be serious."

"This is all that I can offer you," the man no longer behind the desk said.

I looked at Holly and then back at the barn that the man had led us too.

"It's not like it's an actual barn," he said. "It's our rustic event venue."

"Is it made out of wood?" I asked.

"Well, yes."

"Does it have two big doors, big enough for, say, horses to come out of?"

"Yes."

"And when I open those doors, will I find hay?"

The man hesitated a moment this time, hanging his head slightly.

"Yes."

"Then it's a barn," I said.

"It's cold out here," Holly said. "And I'm tired. And I'm hungry. And I'm not getting back on that snowmobile tonight. If this is what's available, then let's just make the most of it."

"You do realize that this is the second time that there has been no room at a hotel that we have tried to stop in."

"Well there wasn't no room at the Hollow Day Inn," Holly point it out. "There was one room. I just got it first."

"Yes, and at this one, you got a barn."

"How very seasonally appropriate."

"Boom Boom would be thrilled."

"So, is this going to be acceptable for you?" the man asked.

I looked at Holly and then back at him and nodded.

"I wouldn't go quite so far as to say that it's acceptable," I said. "But we'll stay for the night."

The man gave a sharp nod, handed me the awkward ring of keys for the barn, and walked away.

"Hallelujah," I heard him mutter under his breath as he walked away.

I turned to look at Holly.

"Do you think that Santa is missing him up at the North Pole?" I asked. "It's kind of getting to Christmas crunch time here, and he really should be up there making toys. Those tiny little hands are probably pretty important for the fine details."

Holly gave me a mildly scolding look and wrapped her arms around my neck.

"Don't you give him another thought," she said. "Like I said, why don't we just make the most of it?"