Apocalypsis 01 - Kahayatle

finding the fact that she had stayed to protect her parents’ tacky shell emporium hilarious.
    “What’s so frickin’ funny?”
    “Is your mom the one with the unhealthy glue gun addiction?”
    “What?” she spat, her face the picture of confusion.   Slowly, though, realization dawned, and her expression changed to one of incredulity.   “Did you just mock my mom’s shell crafting?”
    “Yeah.   I guess I did.”
    She stood up straighter, the bat falling to her side.   “I’ll have you know that my mom’s shell art was a big seller here.”
    “Seriously?” I said, truly shocked at the idea.   “Who buys that crap?”
    She shrugged.   “Tourists.   People from places where they don’t have shells.”
    “Most of this shit isn’t even from Florida,” I scoffed.
    “So?   They don’t know that.”
    I shook my head.   “Shell scammers.”
    She lifted the bat again.   “It’s not polite to talk ill of the dead.”
    I held up my hands, wincing at the pain in my shoulder.   “You’re right.   I’m sorry.   I’m leaving.”
    “You planning on going into the Everglades?”   She still held the bat up, but I noticed her shoulders relax a little.   She wasn’t planning on swinging at me now.   At least not at this particular moment.
    “What’s it to you?”   I was pissed she’d overheard our conversation.   Now there was one more person on this planet who could give our secrets away to the canners.
    “I was gonna help you.   But maybe I won’t now, since you gave me shit about my moms.”   Her chin came up and she challenged me with a hard stare.
    I realized how stupid it was of me to keep fighting with this chick.   She lived at this ridiculous shell shop and obviously was from the area.  
    “I’m sorry about your mom.   I do need your help.   I want to know where there’s a place we can find canoes.”   I focused on the boats because I was thinking that a tourist place would have canoes where the most scenic parts of the Everglades were - which hopefully meant that it would be in an area with trees, swampy parts, and lots of wildlife.   A good place to settle down in anonymity.
    The girl backed up out of the area behind the register and walked over to the brochure rack, pulling three fliers off.
    “Here,” she said, slapping them down on the counter.   Then she left the room for a back office area for a second and came back with another one that she placed on top of the others.   “This is something you might want to check out, too.”
    I took a tentative step forward, keeping my eye on her bat, occasionally glancing up at her face.   I was waiting for any sign that she was about to jump all over me again, but it didn’t come.   I stopped before I got to the brochures, worried about getting any closer.
    “Go ahead and look.   I’m not going to hit you.”
    “Could you back up a few steps?   You’re making me nervous.”
    She went two paces back to stand by the entrance to the office.
    I pulled the brochures closer to me and looked down at one of them quickly.   It was the last one she put down, and I could see immediately that it had something to do with indians.
    “What’s this place?”
    “There are some indian tribes out there.   Not all of them live at the casinos, you know.”
    Her accusatory tone told me more than her words had.
    “What tribe are you with?”
    “Creek.   But there are others.   You want to find the Miccosukee.   There might be some kids out there who could help you if they feel like it.”
    “Wow.   Thanks.”   I couldn’t believe my luck at almost but not quite being killed by a Creek indian in a shell shop.   I reached up and felt the ring at my neck.   My dad’s spirit had touched me again.
    “That your dad’s ring?” she asked, a softer tone to her voice now.
    “Yeah.”
    She reached into her shirt and pulled out a smaller version on a silver chain.   “This is my mom’s.”
    I got choked up, looking at the expression on her face and watching her hold the small jewelry carefully in one hand, while the bat hung forgotten in the other.
    “Can I ask you for a really huge favor?” she said, her eyes going shiny with tears.
    “Yeah.   Sure.”   She’d helped me and the guys out more than she could possibly have known.   Who was I to say no to something in return?
    “Can I have a hug?”
    I looked at her like she was crazy.   “What?”   It was the last thing I had expected her to ask me