“Sometimes being friends first makes for the best relationships, or at least that’s what I hear. My parents were friends before they started dating.”
“Come to think of it, so were my folks,” said Jack. “But I don’t see that happening with me and Sara. Besides, between work and helping Mama around the house, I don’t have a lot of time for much else. And even if I did, most of the girls around here are looking for guys with money or a fast car or both. And I don’t got neither.” He skipped his last rock, then eased back toward the boat.
“Well, lucky for you, not all girls are interested in guys for their cars or money.”
“Is that so?”
“Yeah, that’s so.” She looked up at him and batted her brown eyes.
“But I reckon it must matter a little, right? At least the money part.”
When they reached the boat, Ellie turned to him. “Jack, why do you worry about such things?”
He dropped his eyes and spoke at the ground. “I don’t know. I just don’t want to end up poor like my mama. God knows she tries her best, but life hasn’t been kind to her. Sometimes I feel like I’m headed down the same path. Then I look at you and see someone who will never know what it’s like to be poor. And I don’t blame you. It’s just… my problems will never be your problems.”
“Jack.” Ellie took him by the shoulders. “Just because someone has money doesn’t mean they don’t have problems. They’re just different kinds of problems. And just because you start off poor doesn’t mean you have to stay poor. Why, there are plenty of stories about people starting with nothing that have made something of themselves, and vice versa. Just look out there.” She pointed toward the western sky. “Our entire lives are before us, filled with endless possibilities. Who knows what the future holds?”
* * *
On a hot June evening while trolling a shallow stretch of water near the sandbar, Jack shouted, “Bite me hook, fishy.”
Ellie laughed out loud at his choice of words. “Is that another of George’s sayings?”
Jack shook his head. “Stole that one from my mamaw. She used to say it when the bite was slow.”
“Your mamaw sounds like a real character.”
“Oh, she was. I remember she used to sit quietly and fish from the back of the boat. That was her spot. She’d catch two or three fish before me or Papaw knew what was happening. But Papaw would just shake his head and smile.”
“You miss them, don’t you?” Ellie asked quietly.
“Every day. They meant the world to me. Still do.”
For the next few minutes, neither of them said a word. Then a whooshing sound near the bank stole their attention.
“What’s that?” Ellie asked, watching a blue-gray bird clumsily take flight.
“Shikepoke.” Jack followed the bird with his eyes as it glided over the water’s dark surface.
“What?”
“Well, technically, it’s part of the heron family, but around here folks call them shikepokes.”
She stared at him in silence, seemingly perplexed. “You know, you’re different than I expected.”
“Is that right? And what was it you expected?”
“I don’t know. Where I’m from, we hear all sorts of things about people from the South, but I can see most of that isn’t true.”
“You mean like we’re all ignorant, missing half our teeth, and married to our first cousins—stuff like that?”
She pressed a hand to her mouth to stifle her giggles. “Yeah, something like that.”
“Well, as you can see, I have all my teeth, and while I may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer, I get by. And as far as the first-cousin thing, my parents were second cousins, so…”
Ellie’s mouth fell open.
“I’m only kidding,” he said, then laughed out loud. “And just so you know, you’re not what I expected from a Yankee either.”
