Geff and Jerald

Reeled In, Part 2

After all the commotion back there, I kept on wondering about Jane. She was decently pretty, but I never asked her where her farm was. Because sometimes people build farms where you least expect it. I heard some crazy guy build his farm in a cave. It was too lopsided, and one day, it disappeared... Nobody knows what happened to it. Some say the farmhouse flipped into the caverns and got carried away by the ancient river, and others say that the spirits of our ancestors carried it away. But it doesn't matter. I went to find another  salmon, because thanks and no thanks to Jane, I lost my fish. Ugh. That meant more worms. But Max was already prepared. I launched my rod's line when I heard a whisper behind me. "Hey." I looked behind me. There was a guy who had brown overalls in the trees. He looked weird. There were no shoes or socks on his feet. "Who--" He hushed me. "I'm not supposed to be here. I came to watch people fish. It's fun scaring the living daylights out of the folk." He snickered. "I see you've already met my cousin Jane." I nodded. "She's pretty, huh? People constantly tell me that it's surprising that I'm related to her." I didn't even know what this guy was talking about. But he just adjusted a red baseball cap on his head and walked back, laughing his butt off. I just shrugged and kept on fishing. Never heard of him. Finally, when I caught a good fish, I started going back. Jane's family was already gone. So much for talking. I held the fish by its tail, but it kept on slipping from my hand, so I gave up and tied it to Max's back. When I made it past the sign I heard a voice behind me. "Hey, wait up!" It was Jane. Huh. Wasn't she... leaving? Awkward...."My family told me I could walk with you," she said. "Do you like fishing?" she asked. "Eh, not really. I just wanted to eat something different for a change." She laughed. "Looks like you eat a lot of veggies!" I shrugged. "I just met this weird guy, he was wearing brown overalls, and he was barefoot--" she groaned. "That's Gabriel. He's one of my annoying cousins. But don't worry. He's not always that way. Sometimes he's really nice."

"Hey, I never asked you, but where do you live?"

"Oh, I'm not really a farm girl, but I help out on my uncle's field."

"Ah! So your family grows all that odd, fuzzy green stuff?"

"Yeah! They're really good. Also, they're called seaberries."

Right then, my jaw dropped. Her uncle.... The man with the basket.... Oh no. I was frozen in shock when I saw a hand wave across my face. "Hello? Geff! Are you listening to me?" I shook my head. "Huh? Oh, yeah. You have seaberries, you said?"

"Uh, no, I was saying there's this creek where they grow. Hey, you should come to my house sometime! My mom makes the best seaberry pie. It's sooooo good." I stopped. "Um, yup.... I could come next week, but I have a problem." She looked at me. "What type of problem?" I was getting sweaty. "You see, your uncle....he..." I stuttered. "He what? I didn't hear anything about you." Jane said. I had no idea what to lie about, so I quickly changed the subject. "I never got your number, by the way."

"Ohhhhh. That. Here you go!" She gave me a piece of paper. "

"Wait! How--" I started. "Hey, I had a good feeling about you. Not bad, Geff. Not bad at all." And then she ran home without saying goodbye.