Later, Sam will tell himself it's not like he meant to run off without telling Dean--it just sort of happens. He's splashing around with the other kids in the Rumlows' cow pond, scaring each other with the possibility of leeches, when Lena Rumlow runs up, out of breath and looking cross. "I'm supposed to take you all to the fair," she says, vaguely accusatory. "Everyone else has gone already, so unless you want to be stuck at home by yourselves, be in the van in 5 minutes. If you're not in it, I don't care, I'm leaving anyway."
So everyone frantically tries to dry off and locate their shoes and Sam winds up missing one of his own and clutching someone else's left sneaker--and in the rush of trying to find its owner he finds himself sandwiched in the back seat between Mary Beth Hart and Josh Blackner. There's a minute where he almost says sorry, but I need to get out, my brother's expecting me for dinner, but--
Well, he's been asking and asking and asking to go to the fair each summer for a couple of years now, ever since he first saw posters for it up at Lebanon's tiny library. He's pretty sure at this point that Dean's never going to say yes, even though he has his license now so they could drive over, no problem. And everyone else is talking about funnel cake and special displays and the moon bounce and all the different competitions their families are in--and the minute passes. Lena throws herself into the driver's seat, shouts, "Seatbelts! I'm not getting pulled over by Deputy Grassley again, and no, it's not funny, Kyle, I will honest-to-God murder you if you don't put your seatbelt on," and then they're off in a great clatter of gravel, and it's too late to change his mind.