3. The Scavenger Hunt
The silence was broken by Rod's voice, "Emily, can I have a word with you?"
"Sure, honey."
Rod motioned her over near the back door. He began in a low voice, "Are you sure you know what you are asking? I mean, I'm OK with it but, Jordan and Jim might feel a little awkward going to the store with someone else and buying...."
Emily stopped her husband with a finger to his lips, "I think that they will be OK. If not, they can skip that one. Lighten up and have some fun with it." She smiled at him and gave him a little kiss on the cheek. "Besides, if they think about it, all of the guys are going to benefit from it when they get home tonight. I know that's I expect to." She planted another kiss on his lips.
As she came back towards the others, Wendy came up and whispered in her ear, "Way to go girl. This is going to be a blast." Emily nodded.
"OK, let's get our stuff together. Rod, are you driving your group? Good. Do you want to go to the left or right at the parkway?"
Rod shrugged his shoulders after glancing at Jim. "Right, I guess." He replied.
"OK, then why don't you go to the mall before 7:30 since it is to the right? Jordan, we can go after 7:30. Is that OK with you?"
"Agreed. My watch says six exactly. Let's get this cake in the oven." Nikki, giggled at the cooking reference and took his hand and they were the first ones out the door with the cooler and clipboard in hand. Paula and Jim followed them; then came Jay and Emily. Wendy and Rod followed with Rod locking the front door.
Before anyone got in the car, Emily reminded everyone, "Remember be back here before 10:00. You get docked 1 point for every five minutes you arrive after 10." Jordan opened the front door for Nikki and Jay did the same for Emily. As the door shut behind her, Emily realized that she had forgotten to put on her leggings and bring her sweater. She shrugged realizing that it was too late and just prayed that it wouldn't get too chilly too early. Rod backed their car out of the driveway and began rolling up the street. As Jordan started the car, Nikki turned around to look at Emily and broke out in a big grin.
"Emily, this is going to be so much fun. I was a little afraid to say anything inside in case Wendy or Jim might take that the wrong way. But Jordan and I talked about it after we read the list and agreed that this could be one of the best nights we've had together since the eight of us have been hanging out together. Thanks for putting this together for us. And frankly, I think Jim is just as excited; probably a little nervous, but excited." Nikki, who was usually one of the quieter ones, spoke in a rush. She turned back to the front and gave Jordan a kiss on the cheek, "Don't you agree, sweets?"
"Oh yes. Actually, I'm a little worried about Rod. If their buying trip is anything like ours, he is in for a major experience shopping with Wendy. She will go wild in the store."
Emily grinned to herself because she knew that all four couples were going to be shopping for the same things, but the instructions clearly stated that they were not to discuss or show their purchases to any of the others. It was a secret between the couple.
Jordan asked over his shoulder, "Jay, how do you think Paula will react to this?"
"I suspect that she will be giggling the whole night. She will love the creativeness and adventurousness. I don't think that she will have a problem at all. So guys what and where do you think we ought to start? If I can make a suggestion, we probably need to start our beer can collection soon and keep working on it all evening. If you agree, maybe the best place to start that would be someplace where people throw away empty cans like at a park or at the lake."
"I like that idea. I suspect that we might be able to pick up a few other things at the lake. Why don't we start there?" Jordan replied.
Everyone agreed and they made the five minute drive to the nearest lakeside park. It had been a beautiful weekend and a lot of people had been out picnicking and playing at the park.
The couples emerged from the car and decided that they would make circular sweeps in opposite directions to see what they could find. Each had a trash bag to collect the cans in. As they started to move away, Nikki said, "Hey we are almost forgetting something. We have to take pictures of each other when we find something."
"Tell you what, we don't have to document each beer can just the process of looking and picking some up. We can do that now or at the end of the circuit. If you find something else on the list that does need to be documented, spot it and we'll either call each other over for the picture or go back to it later. Does that sound within the rules, Em?" Jay answered.
"Sounds perfectly fine to me. Now guys, remember I'm playing this game too. I don't want to be the judge and jury until after we get back. Let's just proceed, have fun, and keep everything honest and within the framework of the rules. OK?" Emily replied.
The other three nodded in agreement. Jay took Emily's hand and led her off in one direction. Nikki took Jordan's arm and they went off in the other direction. It took about twenty minutes for each couple to make the circuit of the park. When they returned to the car, they found that that had collected 8 different beer cans. The instructions had said that were looking for as many different beer cans as they could find. So a Budweiser was different than a Bud Light, but a 16 ounce Miller Lite was the same as a 12 ounce Miller Light. They each took a picture of the other couple sorting through the cans and saving the different ones. The duplicates went into the trash can. Emily and Jay had found two of their items and had Jordan and Nikki follow them to document the finds. One picture showed Emily picking up an old tennis shoe with two fingers while Jay held the bag open. The other had Jordan picking up a broken MP3 ear buds from a puddle and putting them in the bag. Then Emily and Jay followed the others to one picnic table where they pictured Nikki putting a discarded tee shirt into the bag. Jordan added an empty potato chip bag and a fork to their sack. Nikki stood by his side holding up three fingers on one hand and two on the other indicating that they now had at a one item lead over Emily and Jay. She then gave a Jordan a big kiss on his lips. Jay made sure to document the kiss even if it wasn't on the list.
They each wiped their hands with the sanitizer cloths that Emily had thoughtfully provided. As they re-entered the car, Jay said, "Hey Jordan, I think I heard about a place farther up the lake where a lot of the high school and college kids go to hangout and party. I'll bet that might be a good place to find some stuff especially beer cans."