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The sun beat down on the travelers as they made their way into the town. Their tongues felt heavy with thirst, their lips were dry and beginning to crack. The walk had not been that long, but the heat bearing down on them made it seem longer and harder then anything they’d endured before.

The town lay out before them; they felt as though they’d been transported back into the dustbowl era. They shielded their eyes as a dust weevil blew across their path. Nick brushed his hair with his hand, sand falling from his hair all around him. They gaped in wonder at how this town was going to be able to help them get their bus up and running again.

John smiled at them then told them about the different buildings they were looking at. A.J. sighed as he was shown one restaurant that was also the bar and the hotel, the one general store, and the garage that would be fixing their vehicle. Lastly they were shown a run down building that looked as if it used to be a movie theater that was explained to them as the meeting hall for the town. A.J. ran his hands through his hair; he did not know how he was ever going to pass the time in a small town like this. His friends all had a book they were reading back on the bus, A.J. preferred to write lyrics to possible songs. He did not see how a town like this could inspire any lyrics.

John turned to them expecting ‘oohs’ and ‘ahhs’ as if he just showed them a newborn child. “You all are in luck too, we are preparing for our biggest event in this town between the 4th and Christmas.”

“Will all five farmers and their cows be able to make it?” Nick asked sarcastically under his breath but A.J. heard and chuckled slightly.

John ignored the laughter and continued talking about the event with pride. “It’s time for the Widow’s Walk.”

“What?” Brian asked confused. None of the guys had heard of an event with that name before.

“All week we have events and parties to celebrate each of the widow’s of the town, and then on Saturday we,” he paused looking at his guests; A.J. thought it was ridiculous that the man was trying to add dramatic effect to their small town celebration. “Well on Saturday the women parade through the town.”

“And you celebrate this every year? There are that many widows in the town?” Howie asked unbelieving.

“You would be surprised at how many people give up city life to live simply here in our town. Each person has brought with them a skill they share with the others, we grow our own food and what we can’t grow we order at the general store. There are many houses outside of the town limits; each person has a good size plot of land.”

“You manage to grow things in this desert?” Kevin asked in awe.

“Well there is a lake not to far from here that we have been able to utilize.” John spit on the ground after catching a mouthful of dust. He noticed faces of shock, “we have more land then people realize.” He motioned for the boys to follow him as he led them towards the building that doubled as a hotel. “I hope you don’t mind, but you will have to share rooms.”

The guys shrugged and continued to follow him inside. They were shown upstairs, two rooms, one with two beds and the other with three. They did not have to choose who stayed with whom as their luggage was already lying on their beds.

“But how?” A.J. started to question John but he did not hear him as he was already speaking to them again.

“Dinner is on the house tonight and will be served at seven, please don’t be late as that is rude.” And with that John left A.J. and Kevin in their room off to show the other three their room. A.J. looked over at Kevin and fell onto his bed. “Could we get any closer to hell then this place?”

“There was a phone downstairs, I’m going to try and call Johnny and let him know what’s going on. Maybe he’ll be able to send another bus for us in the meantime.” Kevin said talking of their manager, his cell phone still appeared to have absolutely no signal.

A.J. turned his head and looked out the window; all he could see for miles was dry desert with no chance of getting out. He could only hope that Kevin was able to get a hold of their manager and he could find a way to get them out of this hell. Tired from the walk, it was only a short amount of time until A.J. fell asleep unaware that it was only ten minutes until seven p.m. and he was to report for dinner.