Her little face wrinkled. “My grandma says there’s nothing wrong with being scared. The only thing wrong is hiding it.”
“That’s stupid,” I murmured. “Ouch.” I looked down at the spot on my arm where she’d hit me with her free hand.
“She’s not stupid. Stop calling my family stupid.”
If she had been Ace or any other boy in my class, I would’ve pushed her to the ground. Instead, I told her, “I didn’t call them stupid. I said what they said was stupid.”
“It’s not,” she insisted, stomping her foot.
I pushed out a breath. “Fine. They’re not stupid. I take it back, okay?”
I waited until her face relaxed to release my next breath. Shaking my head, I wondered what had gotten into me. None of the kids at school could’ve gotten away with what she’d done. I wasn’t a bully, but I didn’t take shit from anyone. Joel often commented that I wasmeaner than a rattlesnakewhen I wanted to be.
“Is that a lake?” Jodi suddenly asked once we walked about fifty more feet down the narrow trail.
“Nah, it’s more of a swimming hole. But it goes deep, so don’t go in.”
“I can swim,” she challenged.
“So can I, but it’s dark out, and now’s not the time for swimming.”
Finally, releasing her hand, I took a seat on the same rock I always sat on underneath one of the old oak trees.
“What’cha doing?” Jodi questioned, staring down at my hands as she sat next to me.
“Tying a knot.” I played with the small rope in my hand that I’d pulled out of my back pocket.
“Can I try?” she asked after watching me tie different knots for a little while.
I nodded. “Sure. You know how?”
She shook her head. “Teach me.”
I sighed but held up the rope. “This is a bowline knot. Take these two fingers …” I held out my right hand, placing one end of the line in between my pointer and middle fingers. “Cross it over like this and then spin, bringing the loose end over and down.” I finished with a completed knot. “You try.” I undid the knot and handed the rope to her.
She fiddled with it for a little bit. “Like this?”
“No, like this.” I took her hands into mine and helped her use her fingers to guide the rope ends how she wanted them to go, to tie the knot properly. “I got it,” she cheered after a few tries on her own. “Show me another one.”
I ended up teaching her more and more knots that I knew. Some of these knots were useful for camping or fishing. Others were used for tying up cattle that Joel had taught me.
We sat on that rock for a long while, tying different knots and skipping stones. Somehow we both ended up falling asleep, Jodi leaning against my shoulder.
Sometime later, I awakened to the sound of men yelling in the distance.
“Jodi!”
“Hey, wake up.” I nudged the girl who ended up sleeping under my arm.
“Huh?”
“I think someone’s calling for you.”
“Jodi!”
She gasped, blinking her eyes wide.
I looked up, seeing the sun start to peek out over the trees. It was early dawn. I couldn’t believe we’d fallen asleep for most of the night.
