Chapter 15 Cara
FIFTEEN
CARA
Does everyone lose that little ejector tool they give you for the SIM card slot or is it just me?
—@macgyverjr
After several failed attempts to trip the SIM card door with blunt, flimsy twigs, Cara found a thin, hardwood stick and frantically shaved its tip with a sharp-edged rock.
In second grade, her class went on a field trip to the Los Angeles Natural History Museum.
After touring the Native American dioramas, they were led into a learning room where a docent taught them how to make their own arrowheads using two shiny black pieces of obsidian.
Their hands-on learning experience was short-lived, lasting only until Tommy Monroe realized he could “burn” the girls on their arms and bare shoulders with heat caused by the friction.
Mrs. Johnson shut down the experiment and sent them outside to eat their brown-bag lunches.
While no one had honed a rock into anything remotely resembling an arrowhead, the memory was reassuring. If a rock could sharpen another rock, it could certainly sharpen wood into a point precise enough for her needs.
Cara honed the stick to a sharp point, small enough to fit into the tiny hole by the SIM card door.
Nothing happened on her first attempt.
Yes. You. Can.
She turned on the flashlight. While she obviously couldn’t aim it at the phone itself, the beam reflected off the tree trunk she was squatting next to.
She angled the light toward the base of the tree until she had enough illumination on the phone to see the SIM card door.
She guided the tip of the stick into the pinpoint-sized hole and pushed harder.
The spring load clicked.
The compartment opened.
Cara pulled out the SIM card, snapped it in half, and dropped it on the ground.
And then she was gone.