Lobby

Even though it was midday, clouds obscured the sun. The forecast said that a blizzard would be coming into town soon. The lodge was ready; upon their arrival, John and Carla Lexton had found the place nearly spotless, although there had been no sign of the rest of the staff. Carla was in the lobby, checking the clock every minute.

"John, have you got that phone line working yet?" She shouted, her voice carrying through the hallways. There was no response. "John!" she shouted again. She stood and started walking for the door.

"What, what?" John said, entering the room from the hallway.

"Have you got the phones working yet?"

"Not yet. There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with them."

"Then hurry up. I don't like it here. It's too empty. And where's the rest of the staff? I should fire them all for showing up this late! The guests are supposed to arrive any minute and we're the only ones-" John cut her off.

"It'll be fine. They probably just got the dates wrong. I'm sure-" The sound of a large vehicle pulling up outside can be heard.

"See? The guests are here!" Carla hissed at him. She hurried to the front desk. "Go on, we can't have the guests seeing you like that!" John shrugged and walked to the edge of the lobby. Carla turned towards the door as the first guest entered.

Smiling as wide as was humanly possible, Carla stood behind the front desk waving excitedly at each guest as they entered. "Welcome to the Shelter Lodge.", she announced to the first couple guests that made their way towards her.

The first guest, a young man that had a devious look about him, approached her with a question. She loudly replied, "Of course this is the place! Make yourself at home, everything is brand new, and ready to be tried out by you, our very first group of guests!" As she was saying this, she noticed the second guest looked to be a bit annoyed. Isn't this something, he gets a free vacation and stands here with such discontent!, she thought to herself as she moved over to the computer.

With the giant smile still plastered on her face, she looked up at the first guest, "If I could just get your last name and driver's license so I can verify your identity and get you your room information."


John lingered in the room long enough to see the first guests arrive. He didn't quite like the looks of them. To, him they seemed too young, and young people were always up to no good. He shrugged and walked out of the room. He still had some last minute things to do. Most important of all, he needed to get the phones up and working. Especially since this area seemed to be devoid of any cell phone signal. He made his way to the generator room to see if the problem could possibly be originating from it. This, he doubted, but it was worth looking into because he had found no other source for the problem, and the last thing the needed on opening day was for the guests to get their panties in a knot over the phones not working.

"Thank you, Mr Greni." Carla replied cheerfully as she went through the same procedure as before. She handed him the document, "Please read over and sign this to acknowledge that you understand the terms and conditions of your stay here at Shelter Lodge." She recited this as quickly as possible, while she moved to retrieve his room key. He seemed in such a hurry to get settled in his room that she skipped some of her speech to speed the process. "Thank you, sir. Your room number is 105. Make yourself at home, and please join us on our tour in an hours time." She widened her smile as she handed him the key.

For a moment as he walked away, she made an ugly face after him. I just don't understand the nerve of that guy, what has he got to be so gloomy about? I sure do hope he lightens up, or he will surely ruin the mood of the whole weekend for everyone.

Her face contorted back into a smile as she awaited the next guest.