Chapter 12: Carp with a Kiss of Lemon
"Look Look!" I screamed out in the darkness. A small boy appeared, and I ran up to him holding something in my hands.
"What is this for?" The boy asked
"It's so you will never forget me," I said to him smiling. He slowly and carefully opened the box. Inside there was a small music box.
"It's pretty!" He squealed. He ran his hands over the smooth cedar box, and listened to the soft melody. "I could never forget you, but just so you don't ever forget me... I have a gift for you too!" He placed a small box in my hands.
Inside there was a necklace. The beads were emerald and silver colored, much like my eyes, and strung on the string in the center was a shell.
"It's pretty too!" I said placing the necklace over my head and around my neck. I wrapped my arms around the boy and hugged him.
"You are gonna come back right?" the boy asked me.
"Of course I will..."
I awoke with a sudden jolt and sat up in my bed.
"What a weird dream... yet... it seems like I remember it in some way..." I said to myself gripping the necklace that hung around my neck and rubbing my fingers over the smooth shell. The sun shone brightly through the shabby windows of the house, and I was squinting from the bright sunlight.
"It can't possibly be this bright atseven am," I said to myself groggily. I turned over on my side to look at the clock. I could not focus at first, but soon the numbers came into view.
"TWELVE O'CLOCK!" I screamed hoping out of bed. My leg was still sore as I attempted to pull on a pair of overalls. "The animals must be starving, and my plants must be dieing from the summer heat out there!" I whined anxiously. "How could I have slept that late?" I thought. I picked up my rucksack and ran out the door, the sunlight breaking through into the small wood cabin.
I stared at the fields in amazement. The soil was already damp, and the plants were looking beautiful. What was going on here?
"Had it rained early this morning?" I asked myself. "It couldn't have, I was out with Kai until 4 am." I limped over to the barn and opened the door nice and wide. As I peered inside I saw the animals already happily eating their fodder. I was completely lost.
I shut the barn door; still not sure of what was going on. I rubbed my face and forehead with my hand, and let out a long groan. As I looked back up, I saw the answer to this puzzle. At the edge of the fields, I saw a small figure lying by the river's edge, fishing. I started my long painful walk down to the river, taking a small limp with every step. As I approached I noticed that the person was someone very familiar to me. The boy was peacefully sleeping with a hat over his face and my puppy Skop asleep in his lap.
"Rise and Shine! It's not good to over sleep like this ya know," I said playfully as I pulled the hat from over his eyes. He let out a groan as he opened his eyes in the bright sunlight.
"I should be saying that to you! I was wondering when you were finally going to wake up," he replied jokingly as he sat up to face me. Skop awoke from his lap, letting out the cutest yawn I had ever seen. I picked up the puppy in my arm and stroked his head.
"Thanks for doing this for me... You're the best Cliff," I said to him graciously.
"I figured you might need the extra help after your little injury yesterday," He laughed. "How's that leg doing?"
"Pretty good," I replied, setting down next to him to rest my leg.
"How was your date last night," he asked me, a slight change in his tone. I looked over at him.
"It was great," I said dreamily. "Kai asked be to be his girlfriend."
"Oh," was all he said. We sat there in silence for a little while, neither of us saying a word until Cliff finally chimed in.
"Are you happy?" he asked.
"Yeah... I guess I am," I replied, still semi-unsure of my true feelings.
"Well that's all that matters," I said, his tone completely changing to his happy self. I was glad to see that he wasn't hostile toward Kai, and yet I felt that I wanted him to be jealous. I was jealous the first time that I met Ann, why didn't he feel the same about Kai?
Suddenly Skop started to bark, so I placed the squirming puppy down on the ground. He quickly ran the water's edge and started to bark at the now moving bobber.
"Cliff! I think you've caught something!" I exclaimed. The bobber started to move even more rapidly, and Cliff quickly grabbed a hold on the pole. He yanked with all his strength, but whatever was on the other line was not about to give in. At one point I even thought the fish was going to win as Cliff almost went splashing into the water.
"Almost... there," he said, I could tell that he was tired from the fight. Finally, Cliff gave one more good yank and a huge fish came flying out of the water. As the fish lay wiggling on the ground I realized what fish this was.
"Cliff... you've caught carp!" I exclaimed, "That is the biggest fish I had EVER seen!!" Cliff eyes glittered as he stared at the gigantic fish. It must have been at least 3ft long, and his red and silver colors shown so brightly in the summer's sun.
"You up for a fish fry?" He asked me playfully, a silly smile appearing on his face. I laughed at how silly he looked, and bent down the pick up the fish.
"Hey now, that's my fish!" He laughed as he yanked the pole off the ground, the fish swinging in mid air. "Come on let's go back to your place and we can cook this sucker up!" He laughed. I had never seen this side of Cliff, he was so... outgoing. I limped over to where Cliff was standing, my pace was slow, and Cliff started to laugh.
"We're never going to get there in time if you go at that pace," He said placing the fish back on the ground. He came up to me and turned around. "Hop on," He said motioning for me to jump on his back.
"Are you serious Cliff? I haven't gotten a piggy-back ride since I was like 5!" I laughed.
"Well... would you rather be limping back to the house while I eat the entire Carp by myself... or... would you like to go through a little embarrassment and have me carry you? Nobody's watching," He said playfully.
"Fine," I said, and jumped up onto Cliff's back. He picked up the fish and started to run back to the house. I could hear Skop's tiny feet running after us.
"Thanks Cliff..." I said, still laughing at how silly we probably looked.
"Hey, I'm always glad to help the crippled," He joked. Finally we reached the house and he plopped me down on the ground. He pushed open the door and looked inside.
"Wow Jen, you really fixed up this place. It looks so different from the first time I came here!" He exclaimed stepping into the house. It was true I had upgraded the house a few times, and even had a kitchen.
"Hey, what can I say, I'm a hard worker," I laughed and stumbled into the house. Cliff walked over to the counter and laid the fish down on the cutting board.
"Ok, let's see... we need a knife, some water, some oil, a pan, some bread crumbs, and some lemon for flavor," He said. I ran throughout the kitchen gathering all the supplies that he needed.
"Have you ever skinned a fish before?" He asked me.
"Nope, I can't say I have," I replied, feeling kind of stupid.
"That's ok, I can teach you, come here," He said to me. I walked up next to him, so close that I could smell his sweet cologne, despite the smell of the fish. He slowly showed me how to skin the fish, and I copied.
"You got it. Ok... now to start cooking. All you have to do is cut it into slabs, stick um in some bread crumbs, and hand 'um over to me and I'll do the rest," he said to me, starting to pour oil in the pan.
"Sounds good to me," I replied, and soon enough we had a pattern going. I would cut a slab of carp, bread it, throw it over my shoulder, and Cliff would catch it in the pan. In no time we had all the carp cooked up, and laying in a dish upon the kitchen table.
"We did good..." I sighed, my face a powdery color from the bread crumbs. I laughed as I turned to look in the mirror.
"I look like a ghost," I laughed, wiping the flour from my face.
"Can you hand me that soap?" Cliff asked. I picked up the soap in my hands and turned around. I took one step, and my shoe caught on a loose floor board. I tripped. Cliff put out his hands to catch me, but I caught something else. My lips gently fell against his, and the accidental kiss continued as he held me from falling in his arms. I stood up, still leaning on Cliff for support, and he kissed me again.
This time, the kiss was different. This kiss was not an accident. I dropped the soap from my hand, and let it fall to the floor. I gently pulled away from the kiss and looked into Cliff's eyes, and quickly turned away.
"What have I done?" I repeated in my head. It was silent. "Why had I just kissed him? Why did he just kiss ME?" Luckily, the silence was finally broke by a few uninvited guests. The door opened and two figures walked into the room. I could not quite tell because they were silhouetted by the setting sun, but all I knew was that I was hoping it wasn't Ann and Kai.