They took three vehicles. The Yarboroughs took their own van with their three children; the Yansens and Youngs doubled up in the Yansens’ van; David, Angela, and Nikki took the Volvo. They could have squeezed in with the Yarboroughs, but Angela liked the independence of having their own vehicle.
The condo was enormous. Besides the four bedrooms, there was an upper loft where the kids could sleep in sleeping bags. After the trip everyone was tired. They headed straight for bed.
The next morning, Gayle Yarborough took it upon herself to wake everyone early. She marched through the house drumming a wooden spoon on the bottom of a saucepan, calling out that they were to leave for breakfast in half an hour.
Half an hour turned out to be an optimistic estimate of the time of departure. Although there were four bedrooms and a sleeping loft, there were only three and a half baths. Showers, hair drying, and shaving were a traffic control nightmare. On top of that, Nikki had to do her postural drainage. It was almost an hour and a half before the group was ready to go.
Climbing into the vehicles in the same order as the night before, they motored out of the valley with its circle of mountains and headed up Interstate 93. Driving through Franconia Notch both David and Angela were taken by the riotous beauty of the fall foliage silhouetted against stark, sheer walls of gray granite.
“I’m starved,” Nikki said after a half hour of driving.
“Me too,” Angela said. “Where are we going?”
“A place called Polly’s Pancake Parlor,” David said. “Trent told me it’s an institution up here in northern New Hampshire.”
Arriving at the restaurant, they were informed there would be a forty-minute wait for a table. Fortunately, as soon as they finally started eating, everybody said the wait had been worth it. The pancakes, smothered in pure New Hampshire maple syrup, were delicious, as were the smoked bacon and sausage.
After breakfast they toured around New Hampshire looking at the leaves and the mountain scenery. There were arguments about whether the fall foliage was better in Vermont or New Hampshire. No one won. As Angela said, it was like comparing superlatives.
As they drove back toward Waterville Valley on a particularly scenic stretch of road called the Kancamagus Highway, David noticed that high cirrus clouds had drifted over the vast dome of the sky. By the time they got back to Waterville the clouds were thicker, effectively blocking out the sun and causing the temperature to plummet into the mid-fifties.
Once they were back at the condo, Kevin was eager for a game of tennis. No one was interested, but he managed to talk David into playing. After driving most of the day, David thought that some exercise would do him good.
Kevin was an accomplished player, and he usually beat David with relative ease. But on this particular occasion, he wasn’t up to his usual game. To Kevin’s chagrin, David began winning.
With his keen competitive nature, Kevin tried harder, but his intensity only caused him to make more mistakes. He began getting angry at himself, then at David. When David called a shot out, Kevin dropped his racket in a show of disbelief.
“That was not out,” Kevin yelled.
“It was,” David answered. David circled the mark in the clay with his racket. Kevin walked all the way around the net to look.
“That wasn’t the mark,” Kevin said angrily.
David looked at his officemate. He could see the man was angry. “Okay,” David said, hoping to defuse the tension. “Why don’t we play the point over?”
When they replayed the point David won again, and in an attempt to lighten the atmosphere, he called out: “Cheating shows.”
“Screw you,” Kevin called back. “Serve the ball!”
Any enjoyment that David derived from the game was destroyed by Kevin’s poor attitude. Kevin got more and more angry, contesting almost all of David’s calls. David suggested they stop. Kevin insisted they play to the bitter end. They did and David won.
Walking back to the condo Kevin refused to talk, and David gave up trying to make conversation. A few sprinkles urged them on. When they arrived Kevin went into one of the bathrooms and slammed the door. Everyone looked at David. David shrugged. “I won,” he said and felt strangely guilty.