"Getting to Know You"

"Chapter 4: Trust Issues"

One morning, when Jaming was perusing the fruit trees for mangoes, he heard Donny and Meredith talking nearby. He turned to go, not wanting them to get the wrong idea, when he heard Donny mention his name.

"You keep going to visit that Jaming guy. What's his deal?"

"His 'deal'? What do you mean?" asked Meredith, sounding very confused.

"Yeah," Donny tried to skip a flat stone across the surface of the ocean, but these weren't the still lake waters of Palm Brinks. The stone skipped once, then bounced into a small breaker and sank to the bottom. "He doesn't really talk to anyone. 'Cept you. What's he like?"

Jaming mentally braced himself. He hated it when people talked about him! And he had never been able to cure himself of the habit of listening in on their conversations, because this had actually saved his life a few times in the past.

Meredith peeled a banana and took a bite out of it before replying. "Why don't you make an effort to get to know him, and find out for yourself?"

"I dunno. He kinda gives me the creeps!" Donny shuddered.

"Why is that?"

Jaming really didn't want to hear anymore, but he found that he couldn't get his legs to obey him and carry him away from there.

"Well...You mean he doesn't creep you out at all? I mean, he don't exactly look..." Donny was incredulous, and if his eyes could be seen under his bangs they would have been wide.

"Spiders creep me out. By the way, I still owe you for chasing me around with a jar of the nasty things." And with that, she snatched Donny's hat from his head and ran off with it.

"Hey, no fair!" the boy growled before chasing after her, laughing as she almost let him take his hat before holding it out of reach again. "This is no way to treat a child!"

"Pff..." Meredith tossed him his hat and rolled her eyes. "Ever heard the phrase, 'don't judge a book by its cover'?"

Donny hastily jammed his hat back onto his head, hiding his 'hat hair' from view. "Sure. But what's that got to do with anything?"

"Plenty," She tossed her banana peel into the ferns, unaware that it nearly landed on Jaming's head. "Give him a chance before you slap a label on him, will you?"

Jaming stared at the mango in his hands as Meredith and Donny went their separate ways, uncertain how he should feel about what he had just overheard. Donny's spoken thoughts were no surprise to him, really. It was hardly unusual for a stranger to be wary of him, and children nearly always seemed to fear him.

He remembered one time when a little girl had bumped into him and lost her balance, and he recalled how she had screamed and cried when he instinctively reached out to prevent her from falling. She had run away, yelling about the 'bad man' who tried to grab her. It was a simple misunderstanding that got blown way out of proportion, and it was all due to his physical appearance. In fact, that incident had touched off a riot of sorts, and he had been forced to leave that town. That was five years ago.

Donny didn't seem to be afraid of Jaming, but it was clear that he didn't know what to make of him, either.

And Jaming didn't know what to make of Meredith's words to Donny. It hadn't sounded like pity, but he couldn't think of a single good reason why she would like him at all, let alone defend him.

'I wonder if she likes mangoes.'

Jaming was in the process of peeling and slicing the mango when Meredith joined him at the construction site.

"What are you up to?" she called, closing the distance between them. She hadn't seen him prepare food before, and she wondered where he had learned how to get a mango ready for eating.

"Interpretive dance," he deadpanned, offering her a mango slice.

"Well, ask a stupid question," she snickered, taking the slice and biting into the tender flesh of the fruit. "Wow, you picked a good one!"

"That's a relief. I wasn't sure what to look for, so I just grabbed a soft one."

They sat on what would one day be a porch, eating mango slices and swatting at beach mosquitoes. Jaming wasn't looking at her, but that was nothing new. He had a bit of a problem with making eye contact unless he was angry, but she simply accepted it as a part of who he was.

"You're pretty quiet, today," Meredith commented, sucking mango juice from the ends of her fingers, which he studiously tried not to notice. "Everything all right?"

"I...have a bit of a confession to make."

She looked over at him, her eyebrows raising slightly in an invitation for him to continue.

"I was looking for mangoes nearby when you were speaking with Donny. I overheard you, and I didn't walk away."

"In other words, you eavesdropped," Meredith knitted her brows.

"I heard my name, and I froze. I just...didn't want it to be a secret."

She picked up another piece of mango, turning it in her hands. "I should probably be pissed, but I've actually done the same thing once or twice."

Jaming seemed a little surprised by her use of language, but he was even more surprised that she wasn't angry. "Well...I apologize for that. But...there's something I can't quite figure out."

"What is that?"

Jaming had lost his appetite, and subtly nudged the plate of mango slices in her direction. There were only three left, and he didn't want them. "Why do you talk to me? Why do you want to help me with the garage? I haven't done anything to deserve it, and I-"

"Okay, stop."

Jaming shut his mouth and looked away. He regretted ever bringing it up!

"I talk to you because I like you, and because I want to. And don't ask me why I like you, because I don't always know why I feel something. I just know when I do. And as for helping, that's easy. This is a small town, so we help each other out. Otherwise we wouldn't be able to function as well as we do. The others would probably help you too, if you would just ask them."

Jaming got up and moved off a few paces. He hooked his thumbs into his pockets and kept his back to her, feeling quite overwhelmed and not wanting to embarrass himself any further. He didn't claim to be the manliest of men, but he didn't want to kill his pride completely by crying in front of her! Neither of them spoke for several minutes, and the urge to weep soon passed.

Meredith finished the last mango slice, wiped her hands on her pants since he wasn't looking, and got to her feet. "So...are we going to tackle that north wall, or what?"

"Actually," he turned to her, and he was smiling a little. "I thought we might go for a walk instead. Work can wait until tomorrow, and I'm actually starting to have dreams about it. That's usually a sign that it's time for a break."

She got up and walked over to join him, but they kept about a foot of space in between them as they set out. "I know what you mean!"