Chapter Seven
AND THEN ALONG CAME JIM BOB
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Daria squatted by her solar grille in a patch of sunlight at the parking lot side of the mostly-shaded picnic area. Her clip-on shades were flipped down over her glasses. She was just getting ready to cook the mushrooms when a pickup truck with TEXAS PARKS & WILDLIFE on the door pulled up nearby. A man wearing sunglasses and a short-sleeved khaki shirt with a WARDEN patch on the sleeve looked out at her. "Hi there. Is your name Daria?" he asked.
"Yes, sir."
"And your last name is..."
"Morgendorffer."
"Nice to meet you, Daria. I'm Warden Dickinson. Your parents asked me to check on you, to see..."
"Oh, please, sir, are they all right? Who got hurt? Was it Quinn? How bad is it?"
"They're all okay, Daria. Your sister was bitten by a spider, but it turned out not to be a dangerous species. Your father is on his way back here to get you."
"Oh, thank goodness they're all right!"
"How about you, Daria? Are you all right? Do you need anything? Are you hungry?"
"I'm fine, sir. I ate some berries earlier, the ones that grow among the rocks and taste like blackberries."
"They're called dewberries. And you can call me Jim Bob."
"Oh, okay." Daria smiled shyly, and gained an admirer. "And I'm fixing lunch now." Daria held out the skewered mushroom caps for his inspection. "They're boletes. See, they have the pores instead of gills."
"Yes, I see. Both kinds you have there are safe to eat, but those dark brown ones taste like inner tubes. A little worse, actually, and the aftertaste really stays with you."
"Oh, well, I guess I'm not quite that hungry." Daria removed the dark mushroom caps from the skewer. "Thanks, uh, Jim Bob."
Warden Jim Bob grinned and got out of his pickup. He squatted next to Daria's solar grille. "Did you make this yourself?"
"Yes. My folks have the charcoal with them, so I put this together from stuff I found here."
"Oh, so you made it here! That's even more impressive! You're a very smart girl, Daria."
Daria smiled and blushed. "Uh, thanks." She held the remaining mushrooms in the hot spot. There was a bright flash as the concentrated sunlight hit the light-colored mushrooms, accompanied by a sizzling sound as various protruding bits and edges of the mushrooms flared and charred. She began turning the mushrooms and waving them in and out of the hot spot to keep them from bursting into large-scale flames. "Wow!" she said, shielding her eyes with her other hand. "I see there's a small drawback to cooking with light. Oh, could you take my picture cooking on this?" Daria pulled a small black plastic box out of her shirt pocket and handed it to Jim Bob.
Jim Bob examined the worthless-looking object with curiosity, noting that its back was held on with a couple of rubber bands. "What is this, a spy camera?"
"Small enough, isn't it? It's one of those single-use cameras they sold a couple of years ago, the ones that used 110 film. Since they use a film cartridge, it's easy to reload them. And once you take the wrapper off, they look so plain you can hardly tell they're cameras. I kept three that took good sharp pictures, to use when my good camera might get lost or broken."
After a few more seconds she brought the mushrooms over to the adjacent picnic table and slid them off onto the inner surface of another large potato chip bag. She spread a little butter on them while they were still hot, then salted them. Then she slid her four little sunfish onto the coathanger skewer.
Jim Bob looked at the bits of green protruding from diagonal slits in the sides of the fish. "Fancy! What herbs are you using?" He was a little worried but didn't want to show it.
"Wild garlic and that plant with the little clover shaped leaves that tastes lemony. My grandmother called it 'rabbit tobacco.' She said they used to chew it when she was a girl." Daria moved the skewer around until the fish entered the reflector's area of focus. There was another blinding flash of reflected sunlight, accompanied by small popping and sputtering noises. She squinted and smiled.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Don't miss the next exciting chapter--- THE AWFUL TRUTH.
AND THEN ALONG CAME JIM BOB
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Daria squatted by her solar grille in a patch of sunlight at the parking lot side of the mostly-shaded picnic area. Her clip-on shades were flipped down over her glasses. She was just getting ready to cook the mushrooms when a pickup truck with TEXAS PARKS & WILDLIFE on the door pulled up nearby. A man wearing sunglasses and a short-sleeved khaki shirt with a WARDEN patch on the sleeve looked out at her. "Hi there. Is your name Daria?" he asked.
"Yes, sir."
"And your last name is..."
"Morgendorffer."
"Nice to meet you, Daria. I'm Warden Dickinson. Your parents asked me to check on you, to see..."
"Oh, please, sir, are they all right? Who got hurt? Was it Quinn? How bad is it?"
"They're all okay, Daria. Your sister was bitten by a spider, but it turned out not to be a dangerous species. Your father is on his way back here to get you."
"Oh, thank goodness they're all right!"
"How about you, Daria? Are you all right? Do you need anything? Are you hungry?"
"I'm fine, sir. I ate some berries earlier, the ones that grow among the rocks and taste like blackberries."
"They're called dewberries. And you can call me Jim Bob."
"Oh, okay." Daria smiled shyly, and gained an admirer. "And I'm fixing lunch now." Daria held out the skewered mushroom caps for his inspection. "They're boletes. See, they have the pores instead of gills."
"Yes, I see. Both kinds you have there are safe to eat, but those dark brown ones taste like inner tubes. A little worse, actually, and the aftertaste really stays with you."
"Oh, well, I guess I'm not quite that hungry." Daria removed the dark mushroom caps from the skewer. "Thanks, uh, Jim Bob."
Warden Jim Bob grinned and got out of his pickup. He squatted next to Daria's solar grille. "Did you make this yourself?"
"Yes. My folks have the charcoal with them, so I put this together from stuff I found here."
"Oh, so you made it here! That's even more impressive! You're a very smart girl, Daria."
Daria smiled and blushed. "Uh, thanks." She held the remaining mushrooms in the hot spot. There was a bright flash as the concentrated sunlight hit the light-colored mushrooms, accompanied by a sizzling sound as various protruding bits and edges of the mushrooms flared and charred. She began turning the mushrooms and waving them in and out of the hot spot to keep them from bursting into large-scale flames. "Wow!" she said, shielding her eyes with her other hand. "I see there's a small drawback to cooking with light. Oh, could you take my picture cooking on this?" Daria pulled a small black plastic box out of her shirt pocket and handed it to Jim Bob.
Jim Bob examined the worthless-looking object with curiosity, noting that its back was held on with a couple of rubber bands. "What is this, a spy camera?"
"Small enough, isn't it? It's one of those single-use cameras they sold a couple of years ago, the ones that used 110 film. Since they use a film cartridge, it's easy to reload them. And once you take the wrapper off, they look so plain you can hardly tell they're cameras. I kept three that took good sharp pictures, to use when my good camera might get lost or broken."
After a few more seconds she brought the mushrooms over to the adjacent picnic table and slid them off onto the inner surface of another large potato chip bag. She spread a little butter on them while they were still hot, then salted them. Then she slid her four little sunfish onto the coathanger skewer.
Jim Bob looked at the bits of green protruding from diagonal slits in the sides of the fish. "Fancy! What herbs are you using?" He was a little worried but didn't want to show it.
"Wild garlic and that plant with the little clover shaped leaves that tastes lemony. My grandmother called it 'rabbit tobacco.' She said they used to chew it when she was a girl." Daria moved the skewer around until the fish entered the reflector's area of focus. There was another blinding flash of reflected sunlight, accompanied by small popping and sputtering noises. She squinted and smiled.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Don't miss the next exciting chapter--- THE AWFUL TRUTH.