‘Thank you,’ she said, sniffling.
She didn’t want to go back into her room in case there were still ants lurking in there, so I fetched a clean pair of PJs for her and she went into my bedroom to get dressed while I made her hot chocolate. I didn’t, of course, mention the face I thought I’d seen at the window. I had to tell myself that there was no connection between the two incidents. One of them hadn’t even been real.
I heated milk to make her drink. But a few minutes later she poked her head out of the bedroom. ‘I’m exhausted, Dad. I’m just going to go to sleep.’
‘Of course. You can have my bed.’
But she had already decided that.
I drank the hot chocolate myself then lay down on the couch. It was lumpy and too short. It took me a long time to get to sleep, and when I did I dreamt of a face at the window. A giant insect, tapping at the glass with its mandibles, trying to eat its way through like the window was made of sugar and I was the second course.
Chapter 10
Tuesday
After her dad called the office in the morning to complain about the ants, the grumpy woman from reception turned up. This was apparently the Vivian that weird Greg had gone to check in with about the flask. She went into Frankie’s room, got down on her hands and knees and said, ‘Yup, looks like you got yourselves some carpenter ants.’
Frankie’s dad said, ‘What are you going to do about it?’
Vivian got to her feet and dusted herself off. ‘We’ll put some powder down. Not much else we can do.’
‘You can’t move us to another cabin?’
Vivian seemed surprised, like this was a massive overreaction. ‘I’m sorry, but we’re completely full. They’re just ants, Mr Anderson. They won’t do you any harm.’
Frankie cringed. Her dad had folded his arms. He was this far away from asking to talk to her manager. ‘They bit my daughter.’
‘Oh shoot. That’s not nice.’ Vivian addressed Frankie directly. ‘I guess you must have scared them off.’
‘Can she get a new mattress?’
‘What? There’s no sense in that. They’re not living in there. They’ve all skedaddled.’
‘Has anyone else had an invasion of ants?’
This made Vivian chuckle. ‘Invasion? Not that I’ve heard of. But that’s one of the risks we all take when we vacation in nature. It’s like these folk that go camping, then get upset when a bear goes rifling through their stuff.’
Frankie’s dad had gone bright pink and she was gripped by the urge to laugh. Maybe Vivian was right. Now it was morning, Frankie could see they had overreacted. It was quickly turning into a funny story she could tell her friends when she got home. And then my bed was invaded by a swarm of killer ants . . .
She left the room, leaving her dad repeating his demands that Vivian do something about the ants and replace the mattress.
Through the front window she could see Ryan sitting outside his cabin, drinking coffee and reading a book. He was so grown-up and sophisticated. Why weren’t there any boys like him in her class? They were a bunch of pimply perverts who talked about nothing except baseball and Fortnite.
She went outside.
‘Hey,’ she said, approaching the deck where Ryan sat.
‘Hey.’ He put the book down. It was a horror novel called Sweetmeat with a big sticker on the front: Now a Major Netflix Series. Frankie had already binge-watched it – it starred that British actress, Ruth something-or-other – but hadn’t read the book yet.
‘Do you want to go for a walk?’ she asked.
Before he could reply, Ryan’s mum, Connie, came out. ‘Hey, honey,’ she said to Frankie. She nodded at the Hollow Falls golf buggy parked outside the Andersons’ cabin, which Vivian had arrived in. The staff drove them all around the site. ‘Everything okay?’
Frankie told her about the ants.
‘Holy shit. It’s like Mother Nature is pissed with us. Ants. Dead rabbits.’ She clapped her hand over her mouth. ‘Oh, damn.’
Ryan rolled his eyes. ‘Mom!’
‘Dead rabbits?’ said Frankie.
‘Come on,’ Ryan said, getting to his feet. ‘Let’s go for that walk.’
Halfway to the lake, Ryan groaned. His dad was coming up the path towards them, wearing a baseball cap and a Harley-Davidson T-shirt.
‘Hey, guys,’ he said, cheerily. He seemed excited about something.
‘What are you grinning about?’ Ryan asked.
‘It’s a beautiful morning! Why wouldn’t I be happy?’