Chapter 6 - The Second Night
The much more cheerful group sat around the fire roasting marshmallows that night.
"Maybe whoever’s behind this isn’t so bad," Hazel remarked. "I mean, it really isn’t so bad out here."
"Yeah, for now," AJ said. "But what if they don’t bring us more supplies? What if this is some kind of a trap?"
"Gee, and I thought I was the pessimistic one," Ellie commented.
"Maybe we shouldn’t eat too many marshmallows then," Kevin suggested.
"I just wish we knew. This uncertainty is driving me crazy!" Nick cried.
"You think they just want to see how long we can survive out here?" Howie inquired.
"Can we talk about something else?" Karen asked. "This is freaking me out."
"And it doesn’t freak you out that this is actually happening?" Tom questioned.
"Tom, shut up!" Karen told him. "I just don’t want to think about it right now, so back off!"
There was a long moment of silence.
Brian looked up at the sky. "Man, it’s such a clear night. You can see the stars really beautifully."
"It’s hard to see through all these trees, though," Becky commented.
"We could go back to that clearing we found and watch from there," Nick suggested.
"Sure," Becky agreed.
"Who else is coming?"
"I will," Sierra said.
"Count me in," AJ added.
"Me too," Brian and Kevin said in unison.
"Wait, is anyone not coming?" Ellie asked, simplifying the situation considerably.
No one answered.
"Then let’s go!" AJ cried.
With spirits starting to rise a little once more, the group walked back to the clearing. They laid on their backs in a circle, staring up at the sky. The soft sounds of the forest filled the air as they looked up at the sky flooded with stars.
"Wow, this is so relaxing," Kevin remarked.
Becky giggled. "I wonder if Orion is shining." This caused Karen and Sierra to start giggling also.
"It’s not. Orion is not shining and it never will again," Ellie told them firmly, suddenly wishing she wasn’t lying next to Brian.
They lay in peaceful silence for a full five minutes.
Becky started to sing very quietly. "Oh, the night was clear and the stars were shining." Karen joined her. "And the moon came up, so quiet in the sky. And the people gathered ‘round and the band was a-tuning. I can hear them now, playing ‘Coming Through the Rye.’" A little reluctantly, Ellie joined them, adding a harmony to the refrain. "And we danced all night, to the fiddle and the banjo. Their drifting tunes seemed to fill the air. So long ago, but I still remember how we fell in love at the Roseville Fair."
"That was really pretty," Brian, Nick, and Sierra said in unison.
"Thanks," Karen replied. "We should all sing something together."
"No we shouldn’t," Tom said.
"I think it’s a good idea," Howie countered.
"I’m not singing," Tom announced.
Becky sighed.
"C’mon, there’s gotta be something we all know," Brian urged.
Becky suddenly had an idea. "Well, if anyone doesn’t know this one, they can easily pick up on the refrain." She took a deep breath and broke into song. "I met him in a swamp down in Dagobah where it bubbles all the time like a giant carbonated soda. S-O-D-A soda."
Everyone except Sierra, Maggie, and Tom joined in. "I saw the little runt sitting there on a log. I asked him his name and in a raspy voice he said Yoda. Y-O-D-A Yoda. Yo-yo-yo-yo-yoda."
Ellie and AJ broke into the low harmony for the next verse. "Well, I’ve been around but I ain’t ever scene a guy who looks like a muppet, but he’s wrinkled and green, oh my Yoda. Yo-yo-yo-yo-yoda."
Maggie sheepishly joined in. "Well, I’m not dumb but I can’t understand how he can lift me in the air just by raisin’ his hand, oh my Yoda. Yo-yo-yo-yo-yoda. Yo-yo-yo-yo-yoda."
Sierra joined in on the refrain. "Yoda. Yo-yo-yo-yo-yoda. Yo-yo-yo-yo-yoda."
Ellie poked Tom. "Sing!"
On the second time through the refrain, Karen and Becky added the high harmony.
Surrounded by singing people and having nothing better to do, Tom very reluctantly joined in the next verse.
For a while, the twelve drowned out their troubles and concerns with the magical words of Star Wars and Weird Al. Their voices and harmonies rang throughout the woods, firmly letting their captors know that they would not be so easily broken.
~~~