"I have to pay $5 and 82 cents more!" "Oh…" the Captain added in mock sympathy, "perhaps by next year the property lines may shrink, or perhaps fall into the sea, and you'd owe less, would that be acceptable?"
"I oh, uh. . ." Claymore stammered, "OH you are just taunting me aren't you? WELL, you don't understand at all!" he said, stomping his feet, and then turned up the path, got into his car and drove away as fast as the decrepit car allowed.
"Captain!" Carolyn chided, "It isn't fair to tease him like that, you know his pocket book is what is closest to his heart!" "He deserves to suffer, any one who can't value what he has in front of him, should be taught a lesson," the Captain said with
"Yet isn't it true, you have something, or shall I say, someone of value right in front of you – and you haven't accepted that yet Daniel, have you?" Carolyn said quietly, never looking away from his eyes.
"My dear Mrs. Muir," he said with a distinct growl in his voice, "never confuse what I may say aloud with an inability to recognize a true, delicate, entrancing treasure when I see it." He waited for her response, but smiled as she suddenly looked down with a distinct blush coloring her cheek. "Or rather Carolyn, I suspect I should have said, I entirely welcome and accept that treasure if it, or . . ." he paused again, "or rather if she wishes me to do so?"
"I do Captain, I do indeed," she said, eyes shining as she met his gaze. "Well then," he said, looking around the yard, "perhaps this calls for a private walk and a personal conversation M'dear?" Smiling, she moved beside him, and together they walked through the gate and continued down the path to the beach where their private conversation was kept safe behind the roar of the breaking waves and the call of the gulls.