Josh was convinced they sold about anything a tourist would want as a swampy souvenir The store itself was kind of small with wood paneling paneling The counter had a cash register on it along with some small snacks like gum gator jerky and breath mints Josh saw that a pack of the mints had fallen outside of the little display box and he went over and put it back All right you’re going to drive me nuts Carter said Are you one of those neat freaks or something What Josh asked No I mean I don’t think so You seem like the kind of person who has to have everything in order Carter said setting his phone down Not at all Josh said I just don’t want to get fired if the place is all messy and it looks like we’re not doing anything Don’t worry Carter said I’ve been working here since I was your age How old are you now Josh asked interrupting I’ll be nineteen at the end of the summer Carter announced as if proud of himself for having lived that long And it’s pretty laid back here Tom takes the tourists tourists out for a spin through the swamp they get all excited HAUNTED STATES OF AMERICA
if they see an alligator or two they come back and buy stuff from the shop That’s pretty much all there is to it Easiest job ever man Josh nodded Carter wasn’t telling him anything he didn’t know from his first two days on the job Tom and his wife Cindy had shown him the ropes the day he started They even gave him a quick tour of the swamp in case one of the customers had any questions It seems pretty easy Josh said But don’t you get bored Carter shrugged I get paid whether I’m bored or not Yeah I just need something to do Josh admitted picking up a small dark-green stuffed gator with a big toothy grin on its face He set it back into the basket with the others Otherwise it’s going to be a long sum mer for me Carter nodded If I end up working with you all summer it’s going to be long for me too he said with a smile Josh wasn’t sure if Carter was serious First night working with the guy and he already felt like Carter didn’t like him He wondered if he should’ve taken that job at Burger Boys where his best friend Russel worked SWAMP OF LOST SOULS
The quiet between the two was deafening Hey Carter said I’m kidding I’m just trying to have some fun with you Oh Josh said Okay Yeah that’s pretty funny Why do you need money so bad Carter asked You saving up for some video games or something No Josh replied A car actually No kidding Carter responded and then made a frowny face but nodded his approval All right you’re a lot more ambitious than I was when at your age I wanted to buy one of those drones Saved up all summer long that first year Josh watched as Carter stared up at the ceiling where there were some frog wind chimes on display as if looking back into the past to a simpler time four years ago Did you end up getting one I did Carter said scratching the side of his head Thing was huge What did you do with it Josh asked Well I don’t know I wanted to fly it around I guess Carter replied like it was a dumb question I never got a chance to use it though Why not Josh asked HAUNTED STATES OF AMERICA
Carter sighed and spun his phone around on the counter like the spinner for a board game Day I got it Carter said Put the thing together in the picnic shelters out back Plugged the batteries into the remote control and was ready to go Josh waited for him to keep going I ignored the instruction booklet of course Carter said Because when you’re excited for something that’s what you do I don’t Josh thought deciding to keep that bit of information to himself He knew Carter already thought he was some sort of a boy scout or something Took the thing up into the sky Carter said His hands and fingers were formed as if they were clutching a large remote control You ever fly a drone No Josh admitted Not yet Well they’re ridiculous Carter continued I had it up in the sky and it sort of hovered there for a few seconds I pushed the throttle stick forward and the stupid thing took off Like forty miles an hour it flew off like a shot On no Josh said He thought he knew where the story was going but decided to ask anyway So what happened SWAMP OF LOST SOULS
