A fresh start
Chapter 14: exploring Macon
Yo, what about my fellow Walking Dead readers. A Writer With Mixed Interests and I are back to deliver you another chapter, and as a bonus, this one is longer than the usual chapter length.
Also, some if you may have noticed some words spelled different. For example, the word Alright. I write it as All right, but I am not spelling it wrong because that's how it is spelled in my country. Just thought I would let you know, folks.
The next morning, Lee woke up quite early, before most of his friends in fact. He decided to get some fresh air since the mornings usually felt nice during the summer in Macon. He got dressed without waking up Carley and headed outside. There, Pete was leaning against a support beam smoking a cigarette.
"Hey there." Pete greeted as he took another puff out of his cigarette.
"Morning, Pete," Lee nodded. "How do you like Macon so far?"
"It's a great place. A quiet town." Pete answered as he turned his attention towards one of the rooms where Carlos and his family had just woken up early too.
"Not like Atlanta, huh?" Lee shrugged. "So let me guess, you've already sent that picture of Nick to Helen?"
"Yep." Pete nodded as the Hidalgo family approached them. "I borrowed Doug's phone and sent it to her email last night."
Lee turned around and nodded at Carlos and his family.
"Good morning Lee, Pete." Carlos greeted the two. "We didn't expect anyone to be up until an hour or two."
"We were heading into town to get some breakfast, want to come?" Astrid offered.
"Sure," Lee responded, and Pete nodded. The five of them began walking from the hotel.
"We were heading to that cafeteria we saw the other day." Carlos spoke up as they walked through the peaceful streets of Macon. "Lee, what is the food like in there? Is it good?"
"Yeah, I've eaten there a couple of times with my parents, pretty cheap too," Lee explained.
"Then let us be on our way." Carlos replied as he walked down the road towards Macon, holding Sarah's hand whilst doing so.
Ten minutes later, the group of five reached a small cafe and went inside. The hostess, named Molly, led them to a booth and handed them their menus.
"Here you all go." Molly said as they looked into their menus. "I'll be back in a few minutes."
Pete quickly decided on the eggs Benedict with bacon, but it took a few minutes for the others to decide on what they wanted.
"I think I'm going to have the egg and bacon sandwich with some coffee." Carlos spoke up as he placed his menu down onto the table. He turned back towards his daughter. "What would you like, Sarah?"
"Umm..." Sarah paused, taking a look and reading through it briefly, before making a decision. "I'll have pancakes, with strawberry syrup! With bacon."
Pretty soon, Molly returned to take their orders, with Astrid deciding on a fruit salad and Lee on a ham and cheese omelet with a hash brown casserole.
"Uh huh." Molly nodded as she wrote down their orders on a notebook. "Would any of you like anything drink as well?"
"I'll have some coffee please." Carlos requested.
"Just some tea for me please." Astrid added.
Pete and Lee also ordered a coffee; while Sarah piped up that she wanted orange juice. Molly wrote everything down and walked away.
"So, enjoying Macon so far?" Lee inquired to the family sitting across from him.
"We love this town so far." Astrid answered with her usual smile.
"Yes, and we really appreciate you inviting us here." Carlos added, expressing his gratitude.
"No problem," Lee offered a smile in return.
"I really like the cherry blossoms," Sarah explained. "Bonnie said that she wanted to plant some."
"It's hard to find some in Atlanta." Astrid admitted. "Bonnie certainly does love her flowers."
"Yeah, I overheard her telling Mike she wanted to plant a tree in her front yard," Lee replied.
"Sounds like a good idea to me." Pete agreed. Since they were on the subject and were waiting for their breakfast, they all decided to make conversation. "So what do ya'll think of Mike anyway?"
"I think he's a nice guy." Carlos spoke up. "He's certainly handful with his experience as a worker."
"I think he's a good guy, pretty strong too," Lee added.
"Remember him yesterday on that sledgehammer game?" Astrid recalled. "He was able to hit the top in one hit."
"Yeah, he hit it really hard!" Sarah responded.
Molly came then to hand them their drinks, telling them that their food would be ready shortly.
"Thank you." Carlos thanked as he took a sip of coffee.
"So, Lee, we've seen the town and the festival. Is there anywhere else you'd like to show us?" Astrid inquired whilst he opened a small pack of sugar and tipped it into her cup, stirring it with a spoon.
"Well, there's the Macon Little Theatre, if you're into that, and the Johnston-Felton-Hay House," Lee answered. "Ed and Diana were looking into that when we arrived."
"Those sound like good places." Astrid admitted after she took a sip of her tea. "We'll have to check them out when we get the chance."
"If we go back to the festival, I want to go on that roller coaster again!" Sarah cried. "That was lots of fun."
At that comment, Pete laughed quietly to himself, possibly remembering his nephew's reaction.
"Was there anything else we missed at the festival, Lee?" Pete inquired, hoping to find more techniques to use against his nephew. "Any haunted houses or any other rides?"
"I think the cherry blossom parade starts today, at around 11 or 12," Lee commented. "Oh, and the hot air balloons."
"Sounds like fun." Astrid agreed.
Before long, Molly had returned with all of their breakfast in her hands and arms. It must be tough to carry all of them at once, but she seemed to be handling herself. She announced the names of their food as she placed them down to make certain she got the right food. "A ham and cheese omelet with hash brown casserole, egg and bacon sandwich, a fruit salad, pancakes with strawberry syrup and bacon, and eggs benedict with bacon. That all right?"
"Yes," Lee nodded. "Thank you."
Molly set down their plates, and after saying grace, they began to chow down.
"Hmm, this is some good fruit salad." Astrid admitted after she took a bite out of her breakfast. "It's delicious."
"I got to say, Lee, Macon sure knows how to make some good food." Pete complimented before taking a bite out of his food.
"Tell that to Omid, I don't think we saw him without a snack," Lee chuckled as he cut up his omelet.
"Same with Nick." Pete agreed, followed by a slight chuckle.
"Seeing Nick in that picture was really funny," Sarah smiled at the older man whilst she poured some strawberry syrup over her pancakes.
"Can't wait to show it to his mother." Pete chuckled as he dropped some salt onto his breakfast.
"I wonder what Omid would think of this place," Lee thought aloud.
"They'll be out of business faster than you can say, "hello"." Pete replied with a chuckle.
That got a laugh out of everybody. By now most of the Atlanta neighborhood was used to Omid and his witty personality.
"He's a nice person though and always likes to look on the positive side of things." Carlos replied before taking a bite out of his breakfast.
"One time he asked me if his cat could play with Pepper," Sarah added.
"But he's cat didn't want to leave their home." Astrid reminded with a slight grin.
"Did Omid tell you about when Whiskers got drunk?" Lee inquired with a small laugh.
"Whiskers got drunk?" Carlos questioned, arching a suspicious eyebrow. "I didn't think that was possible."
"I didn't know animals could get drunk," Sarah pointed out with a confused expression.
"Omid and Christa can tell you guys all about it," Lee told them.
The five of them continued eating their breakfast, finishing about twenty minutes later. Pete offered to pay, but Astrid and Carlos insisted since it had been their idea. They began making their way out of the small cafe.
"Hmm, I'm stuffed." Pete announced as he patted his hand against his stomach. Breakfast certainly filled him up fast.
"The food here is very delicious." Astrid added.
They passed a book store, which caught Sarah's eye. She really wanted some new books, and asked her parents if they could go in there later.
"Sure we can, sweetie." Carlos replied as they continued making their way towards the motor inn.
A few people were awake now once they arrived. They could see Kenny and Katjaa were talking, watching as Duck and Clementine were playing together near the front.
"Hey, y'all," Kenny greeted as he saw them approaching.
"Hey Kenny." Carlos greeted.
After a small wave, Sarah went off to join her friends. She was still shy around Katjaa and Kenny.
"Nice morning, isn't it?" Katjaa added.
"A beautiful morning." Astrid agreed as they took a seat on some lawn chairs that were set outside. "Carlos, Sarah, Pete, Lee and I went to a cafe this morning for breakfast. The food there was great."
"We were wondering about that place," Katjaa responded.
"Omid, you slept with that thing on your head and you've worn it all day," Christa commented as she and her boyfriend emerged from their own room. Omid was still wearing that beer hat. "I think it's time you took it off."
"Wish I had me one of those," Kenny muttered.
"All right, all right, babe, I'll take it off." Omid assured as he took off his hat and threw it back into their room. He picked up his regularly cap and placed it back upon his head.
"Well, you're clearly enjoying yourself," Lee told him teasingly.
"Yep." Omid nodded as they two walked down the steps and joined the others.
"So, what's the plan for today?" Christa inquired as she and Omid approached the six people.
"We're likely going back to the festival today, they've got the hot air balloons lifting off, and the parade," Lee responded. "Tomorrow we might do something different."
Beside him, Pete had a mischievous smile on his face, probably thinking about more ways to torture Nick.
"Any other rides at the parade?" Clementine inquired after she and Duck were down playing a game of soccer with each other. She enjoyed the roller coaster and hoped there was more.
"Sure there is, there's the Ring of Fire, and those swings that bring you up in the air and spin you around just to name a couple," Lee responded. "Just don't get sick."
"That damn Ring of Fire," Kenny chuckled, shaking his head.
"I thought they would have had go-karts." Omid admitted, but he still looked satisfied with what the festival had to offer.
That did not surprise Christa since Omid loved to drive. She remembered the last time they went go-karting and Omid accidentally knocked someone off the track.
Within forty-five minutes, everyone was awake. Once they were all ready, they began walking back to the festival, wondering what would happen today.
"So, we meeting up with your parents and brother again?" Carley asked Lee as they walked ahead of the group to lead the way.
"Later on. They have to work the pharmacy for the morning," Lee answered.
Carlos picked up the pace a little to catch up with Lee to ask him a question: "How long have they owned a drugstore, Lee?"
"They've owned it for about...thirty years, I think," said Lee. "I remember when they first opened it, when Blake and I were kids. They were hoping that he and I would continue the family business, but I guess it's up to him now."
"You did the best you could." Carlos assured. "You should do what you feel is right and achieve your goals in life."
"Thanks," Lee gave him a nod. "I enjoy being a teacher, though. I'm going on my sixth year."
"Me, too." Astrid agreed from a couple of feet behind where she and Sarah were following closely.
"Clementine hopes to have you once she's in college, Lee," Diana pointed out.
Clementine nodded in agreement. She told this to Lee a couple of weeks back.
"Well, I hope to have her too," Lee answered. "Wouldn't mind having Duck, Ben, and Sarah also. They're all good kids."
The names of the mentioned kids all heard him nearby. Duck nodded happily, Sarah merely smiled slightly and Ben chuckled nervously whilst rubbing the back of his neck. He was in high school and would not be long until he finished.
They reached the festival within ten minutes, taking a different entrance this time. Once again, cherry blossom trees were everywhere and people were walking all around. Pete turned to his nephew to tell him what he had in mind.
Nearby, they noticed someone dressed as a mascot costume, waving happily to random people as they walked past. Clementine decided to go and stand by him and allowed Astrid to take a photo as a suggestion from Ed. Clementine stood in front of the mascot with a smile as the mascot placed his hand upon her shoulder and gave a thumb up to the camera.
"And perfect." Astrid announced as she took a picture. She turned towards her daughter. "Want to go and have a picture with him, Sarah?"
Sarah nodded and ran towards the mascot, giving the camera a sweet smile as the mascot placed his hand on her shoulder much like he had done with Clementine. Astrid took the photo, and Sarah ran back. Kenny, Katjaa, and Duck were next to get their photo with the mascot.
"And smile." Astrid spoke up, waiting for the family of three to put on happy faces before taking the photo. "Perfect."
After a few more photos, the group continued to walk around. Nick tried to walk as far away from the hot air balloons as possible, but Pete managed to pull him back.
"Oh, come on, Nick." Pete persuaded him as they walked through the festival. "It'll be like going on that helicopter ride you and Luke went on last year."
"Oh, when I almost fell?" Nick retorted.
"Nick, calm down, alright? We've got kids," Luke chided.
"You had parachutes on just in case." Pete reminded. "Besides, why did you even stand near the open door to that helicopter?"
"Well, excuse me for not being aware!" Nick whined.
"Alright, everyone calm down before things get out of hand," Lee tried to break it up. He didn't feel like having any arguments ruin everyone's good mood.
"All right, all right." Pete sighed as he decided to drop it for now and continue their peaceful vacation. "You don't to go up in one of them if you don't want to, Nick."
"THANK you," Nick sighed. He did NOT need his mother to see another embarrassing photo of him.
"So, what does everyone want to do first?" Lee wanted to know.
Everyone answered with a variety of different options. Since they all wanted to do different things, like before, everyone split off into different groups and agreed to meet back up later. Lee was with Clementine, Sarah, Carlos and Astrid. Ed and Diana trusted Lee to take care of Clementine and decided they would meet up later.
There was a haunted house tour that they eventually decided to go through, although Sarah seemed a little afraid. But she would brave it out and followed everyone there.
Carlos was unsure if he wanted to send his daughter in there at first, but he decided that if she felt confident enough, he would let her. But he stayed close to her nevertheless. At one point, a random skeleton popped out from the ground that caused Clementine to fall over, but she was laughing a second later.
Lee snickered to himself as well as he helped Clementine up, and they continued on their way.
The rest of the haunted house was quite scary but at the same time, it was quite funny for all of them. They exited the haunted house and along the way, they noticed Luke, Nick and Pete walking inside. No doubt Nick was going to get scared.
The five of them decided to wait and listen for anything. And just a minute in, they heard a loud scream that undoubtedly came from Nick, and laughter coming from Pete and Luke. Lee, Clementine, Carlos, Sarah, and Astrid all began to laugh.
"It wasn't THAT scary!" Sarah exclaimed.
"This is one of the best vacations ever." Astrid spoke up in between laughs. She tried to calm herself down before she ended up laughing too much.
They decided to leave before they were discovered, heading off to some of the rides that they hadn't gone on yesterday (now that their stomachs were settled). Again, Carlos seemed reluctant.
They noticed one of those rides where you basically go inside, hold onto something and you keep getting spun around until you can no longer keep your balance. They would pass on that one for now and decided to look at the other rides.
"Hey Carlos, remember a couple of years back at the water park?" Astrid recalled with a slight chuckle.
Carlos sighed and placed a hand to his face. "Please don't remind me."
Sarah smiled, remembering that herself. She took Astrid's arm and pointed. "Look, what about that swing ride?"
"I'm up for it." Clementine agreed, but she could not help but wonder what happened at the water park. When the adults were not looking, she walked beside Sarah and whispered. "What happened at the water park?"
"We went on one of those water slide things with a little boat, and Dad got sick everywhere," Sarah made a disgusted face. "But he was okay, and it's funny to think about now. Don't tell him I told you."
"I won't." Clementine assured with a wink. She looked like she was dying not to laugh though.
"You girls up for getting on?" Lee asked them, pointing to the ride in front of them. It was the swing ride that Sarah pointed out, which basically brought you in the air and spun around in circles, kind of like a fast carousel, only a bit different.
Both of them nodded and got onto the seats once the adults paid as well. Lee and Carlos decided to get on as well, but Astrid did not like heights that much and decided to stay here and watch. This was also Lee's first time on one of these; Clementine could not wait to see his reaction.
Clementine turned around and called to Lee, who was sitting in the swing behind her, asking him if he was ready.
"Ready as I'll ever be, Clementine," he told her. After all, he wouldn't react like Nick...probably.
The ride started and they began to spin around slowly until it got quite fast that it made a few of them cheer and a few of them yell. To avoid the risk of losing her glasses, Sarah lent them to her mother until the ride was over. That way she did not have to worry about holding onto them.
"Woo!" Clementine cheered as they want round and round. She turned towards the older man sitting in the swing behind her and called out to him. "Having fun, Lee?!"
"Lots," was all Lee could manage. Truth be told, he was actually nervous that the swing would break off, seeing as a few people were trying to swing back and forth.
After a few minutes passed, the ride ended and the swings safely descended back towards the ground. The four of them chuckled slightly as they joined Astrid and began to walk through the festival. Astrid handed Sarah her glasses and the five of them continued to enjoy themselves.
"I think the cherry blossom parade is about to start soon," Lee noted, checking his watch and seeing that it was nearly 11:30 AM. "I think it's this way."
So the five of them walked, chattering all the way, and found a good area to stand. Omid, Christa, Mike, Bonnie, and Kenny and his family were standing there too. Omid had on another beer hat.
"Did you run home and get that?" Carlos asked Omid as they joined the others in the same area.
"Yep." Omid confirmed, this time he had a beer attached to his hat that he began to drink out from using a straw.
Christa sighed audibly and rolled her eyes, but she couldn't help but look a little amused. Nearby, Duck was yelling that he wanted some cotton candy.
Kenny assured his son they would get some soon.
A couple of moments later, they noticed Carley, Ed and Diana joining the rest of the group in the same area to watch the parade.
"Hey everyone." Carley greeted as she stood beside Lee.
"Hey," Lee returned. "Did you guys hear Nick at the haunted house?"
"That was Nick?" Ed inquired, earning a mere nod from Lee and Carlos. "I thought that was Katie."
"It may be best not to give him a hard time about it," Katjaa interjected in between small laughs. "Ken, look, I think I see the first float."
Kenny picked up Duck and placed him on his shoulders so that he could get a better view.
"That's an amazing design." Astrid admired the float as she raised her camera and took a couple of photos.
"Look at all the flowers!" Sarah cried in admiration.
"I can't argue with that, Sarah." Bonnie agreed with a smile as she too admired the flowers.
They could see Doug, who had somehow appeared out of nowhere, watching from the other side. Of course he had his phone camera with him. He noticed his friends standing adjacent from him and panned to them, giving them a waved. They all waved back.
"He might as well just brought one of those cameras you record movies with." Astrid spoke up after taking a couple of more photos for now.
"I wonder how long every recording would be to make a movie," Diana added, blocking the midday sun with her hand as the next float came by. This one threw candy and cherry blossom petals.
"Clem, we should make flower crowns!" Sarah suggested excitedly.
"Sounds good to me." Clementine agreed, but she had no idea how to make those. "Do you know how?"
"I do." Bonnie assured as began to explain how.
"That sounds fun!" Sarah cried. "Maybe after the parade?"
She turned to her parents for permission, and they both nodded.
"Sure thing." Bonnie agreed with a smile. "I've been making those since I was five-years-old. It's easy."
The very eventful parade ended about half an hour later, and the group dispersed again. Carlos, Astrid, Ed, and Diana went to rest on some of the provided lawn chairs while Bonnie helped Clementine and Sarah make flower crowns. Lee decided to go off with Carley, Kenny and his family, Omid and Christa, and Doug while they were occupied.
"That was a fun parade." Carley spoke up as she placed her hands into the pockets of her jacket.
"Yeah, that was a good time," Lee agreed. "Well, what do you want to do now?"
"Well, I'm up for some cotton candy, and I'm sure Duck is too." Carley suggested, turning towards the young boy who looked excited for some candy.
"Ya!" Duck agreed.
"Alright, alright," Kenny agreed, looking a little restless. But he managed a smile at his son's enthusiasm.
Carley, Duck, Doug, and of course Omid decided to get their cotton candy, and the group continued to walk, finding something to do. There was a lot to choose from.
"We still need to let everyone know about the shirts," Katjaa reminded them.
"Shirts?" Doug replied after taking a bite out of his cotton candy. "What shirts?"
"I think someone mentioned that everyone should get the same shirt in their sizes, and on the last day we'll get a picture with everyone who came along together," Lee explained. "I think Astrid can hook that up."
With that, Doug brightened.
"Oh, yeah." Doug now remembered. For someone who knew a lot about technology, he had a hard time remember simple things. "Yeah, we should. Sounds like a great idea."
Kenny, Katjaa, and Duck went off to go on some rides, while the others entered a large tent, promoting a showcase event. It held all kinds of items from technology equipment to even cars, enough to catch everyone's eye.
"Wow, all of this stuff is great." Doug announced as he eyed one of the car radios.
Lee looked around and noticed a new printer that caught his eye. It could be used to print out his students' grades once the new school year arrived, but it was pretty expensive. Meanwhile, Carley was looking at some new microphones.
"This could be useful for work." Carley told herself as she rubbed her chin to help her decide. "Might give better sound quality."
Eventually, she decided to buy one that wasn't too expensive (as she wanted to save some money) and decided to check out what everyone else was looking at.
Doug was admiring the new phone that had been released recently and was debating if he wanted to get it or not. He already got two.
That is, until he looked at the cost. He shook his head and decided to get it another time when the price was a little lower. Nearby, Omid was giddily showing Christa all of the pet toys and beds.
After they were done in there, the portion of the group went into the next tent which was historical items. Lee and Omid were interested almost immediately.
Omid practically dragged Lee over to some Revolutionary War paintings, but the latter didn't mind since he was just as fascinated as Omid.
"The Battles of Lexington and Concord, April 19th, 1775," Lee read the plaque at the bottom.
"Hey Lee, look at that." Omid pointed towards another area of the wall where an old musket hung on the wall
"Wow," Lee raised his eyebrows. This musket was from around 1830, according to the plaque, meaning that it wasn't from the Revolutionary War. "I think there are some old documents over here."
"Let's look them up." Omid suggested and they both went to read what it had to say. Everyone else decided to look around as well, including Christa.
There was nothing for sale here as there were only things on display, but nobody minded. Although Omid was desperately wishing for some of those paintings and that musket.
"Wouldn't mind that painting of George Washington on my wall," Lee commented as the group finally exited the tent.
"I wouldn't mind that musket on my wall." Omid added, earning a glare from Christa in response. "What? I didn't say I was going to shoot with it."
Christa was clearly remembering all of his little "accidents." But nonetheless, she wasn't going to worry about it and decided to enjoy their vacation.
After they were done looking inside of here, they eventually met up with the rest of the group, including Lee's family and explored the rest of the parade together. It turned out to be another great day until it slowly came to an end which meant it was time for them to head back to the motel. This has turned into the perfect vacation and everyone would not forget it when they got home.
A-a-a-a-a-nd that's it for this chapter, folks. Long chapter indeed, but not the longest I've published. Longest I published was probably around 8,000 words on another story. Uh, nevermind. Anyway, next chapter will be here shortly. Be sure to leave a review otherwise I will eat your s-o-o-o-o-o-o-u-u-u-l. Just kidding.