Mistrust (23 page)

The first morning I smelled the dew on the large, overgrown leaves hanging low like a canopy over the tents and heard the sounds of the nearby creek, running softly along the water’s edge. I felt a rush of my childhood memories.

The native sounds of the woods have had such a calming effect not only on me, but all of us. We’ve all woken early today, and Sam and I are dressed and ready to go fishing with Dad. Mom’s sitting on a large log by the small campfire which still has red embers burning, sipping on a cup of coffee.

“Are you coming, Mom?” Sam asks.

Mom shakes her head and then lets out a small yawn. “I’m a bit tired, I’m going to stay back and have a nap. Your father was snoring so loud last night I thought he’d attract every form of wildlife to our tents. It’s got to be the mating call of something dangerous.” I laugh and Mom looks at me. “I’m serious. Maybe a bear, or a coyote, or even a boar.”

“I don’t think we’ll encounter any of those around here,” Dad says to Mom. His left hand is holding three fishing rods, and his right hand is holding a bucket with tackle. “Your Mom has always hated fishing. She’ll make any excuse possible not to come with us.”

“I’ll cook them,” Mom adds with a smile. “After your dad cleans them.”

I shiver at the thought of Dad having to descale and rip the poor fishes’ guts out. My face must show what I’m thinking because Mom laughs at me, and Dad looks at Mom then follows her gaze. He leans down, plants a kiss on Mom’s forehead then indicates for Sam and me to follow him. “Come on, girls,” he says, starting through the clearing. “We’ve got some fish to catch.”

Sam and I both stand and look at each other. We’re silently telling each other this is what Dad wants, and we’re happy to do it if it makes him happy. Just these few days we’ve been out here has seen a positive shift in Dad. He’s shoulders aren’t as tense as they normally are, and he’s been laughing a lot too.

“Come on,” I say to Sam as I bump my shoulder into hers playfully.

“Watch it, or I’ll tell Dad you want to scale the fish.”

I screw my nose and take a huge step away from her. Sam laughs at me while Dad looks over his shoulder at us. “Hurry up, you two,” he enthusiastically calls toward us.

We walk about half a mile to where the stream is running fairly rapidly, and Dad sets the rods down, along with the bait. “Do you want me to bait the hook for you, or do you remember how to do it?” he asks opening the bait container and picking up a worm.

Sam gags and shudders. I look at the plump worm wiggling around between Dad’s thumb and forefinger. “Yuck,” I moan giving Dad a look of pure disgust.

“I’ll do it then.” Dad chuckles and shakes his head.

No way. As revolting as it is to have worm guts on my hands, I’m going to prove to Dad that I can do it. “Hand it over, Mister,” I say assertively as I take the few steps to Dad.

I stand over the worms, and the smell coming up from them makes me almost throw up in my mouth. “You look like you’re going to barf,” Sam laughs from a safe distance.

“At least I’m not afraid of a little worm.” I lean down toward the bucket, dip my hand into the slimy mass of worms and grab one. Holding back the vomit, I look at Sam whose horrified features are frozen with complete disgust. “Just grab one,” I say as I take a step toward her. She recoils and shakes her head almost violently. “Go on.”

Sam dry retches again and moves behind one of the large trees lining the river. “Go away,” she yells at me from behind the tree.

“Come out, come out wherever you are,” I taunt as I creep toward her hiding spot.

“Dakota, go away.” I can hear the mirth in her voice and see her head poke out from behind the wide tree. But I’ve managed to sneak up her, holding the squirming worm out in front of me. She pokes her head out again, and this time I’m so close I can almost touch her with the worm. She sees me, screams, then shoots off running from behind the tree.

I give chase, the stupid worm wiggling around as I try and land it on her back. “It’s just a worm,” I laugh while chasing her.

“Ewwww, go away.” She looks over her shoulder as she runs behind Dad and uses him as a shield. “Save me from the crazy person. I think an alien’s invaded her mind.”

Dad’s chuckling as he threads the worm onto his hook. He looks at me, trying to get Sam with the worm, then turns and looks at Sam who’s bouncing from foot to foot attempting to avoid me. “Let’s catch some fish.” Dad stands and Sam leaps back, out of my reach.

“Yuck,” she says as she eyeballs me and what I’m holding between my fingers. Cautiously she casts her gaze down to my feet, then up my body.

I’m laughing so hard, I don’t think I can chase after her anymore. “I won’t get you.”

She eyes me suspiciously, but decides to move toward me. “You sure?”

This makes me laugh even harder, to the point I double over and grab my knee with my worm-free hand to balance. “I’m sure,” I manage to get out between gales of laughter.

“Good.” Sam walks past me, narrows her eyes and taps the side of her nose. “I’ve got my eyes on you, Bennett.”

“I’m going fishing, who needs their hook baited?” Dad offers one last time. He’s got those plastic pants on, and his fisherman’s hat. It looks a cross between a beanie and a large bucket hat. It’s bright and swirly with many colors and lots of lures hooked into it.

“Nice hat,” I say to him heading over to the rods. He gives me a smile which quickly turns into a snarl when he realizes I was being sarcastic. “Here, I’ll do Sam’s rod.” I pick up the hook, and spear the worm. Its guts come out and the worm instantly dies. I look to Sam, whose nose is scrunched up while she’s watching me.

“Thanks,” she says when I give her the rod. Sam goes and stands at the water’s edge, careful not to get too close.

I place my rod down once I’ve got the hook ready, take my shoes and socks off then pick my rod up and go stand in the water. I wade until I’m almost knee-deep. Dad’s walked even further, the water coming to below his waist. Looking back at Sam, she’s standing on the coarse sand, looking bored. She’s cast her line, but considering how shallow the water is there, she’ll be lucky to catch a tadpole let alone a fish. And Dad has always been a responsible fisherman, if the fish aren’t of a certain length, then he tosses them back in.

“Hey,” I call out to Sam. Looking forward, I notice Dad turn to see what’s happening. Then I turn to look over in Sam’s direction again. “Hey!” This time she looks over to me and gives me a half-wave. “Come out.” I beckon her over.

“Shoes.” She points to her feet.

“I have some too, they’re over there.” Directing her to where my shoes are.

Sam scrubs her free hand over her face, and from this distance I see her smile. “Hang on.” She walks over to where my shoes are, and takes hers off then starts toward me. It takes her a few seconds to come out, and when she does she stands about ten feet from me. “This better?”

I cast my gaze over to Dad who’s in his element. He’s waded further down the river and he looks like a man who’s at peace with his surroundings. “This trip isn’t about us remember, it’s about him.” I pointedly look over to Dad. “And Mom.”

“I know.” She rolls her eyes. “It’s just fishing is so boring. I haven’t been a buzz kill at all for the past three days, but fishing . . .” She shudders and screws her mouth up. “Ugh.” She casts her line and cocks it against her hip. “I’m trying not to think about this.” She wiggles her rod.

We stand in the water for what seems like forever with our rods remaining sturdy in our hands. “Just a nibble,” Sam huffs. “Anything.”

Smiling at her I listen to the sound of the water running down stream. It’s serene out here, nothing but the flapping of birds wings while some of them fly in flocks overhead. Everything is calm,
peaceful.

“Oh my God!” Sam yells. I look over to her and see her rod is bent while she tries to pull it back with both her hands. “Holy crap. This thing is huge.” The rod arches even further, and if it keeps going it looks as if it’s going to snap while she’s holding it.

Out of the corner of my eye, Dad starts making his way toward her, but he’s too far out to help her. “I’m on it,” I call as I wade through the knee-deep water to get to her. “I didn’t think we’d catch anything this close to the water’s edge.”

“You haven’t caught anything,” she growls toward me. “I have.”

I laugh while helping her with the rod. The fish is desperately attempting to get away, and we’re both just as desperate to pull it back. “Dad,” I call as I one-handedly help Sam. Dad’s still wading toward us, but the water is causing resistance around him, slowing him down.

It takes what seems like forever for Dad to get to us, and when he finally reaches us, the line snaps. Both Sam and I fall back in the water, losing our footing from the loss of the pull on the rod.

My head goes under water as my back finds the shallow pebbles and sand on the floor of the river. Sitting up, I come up out of the water in absolute hysterics, laughing so hard I almost pee myself. Sam sits up in the water, looking like a drowned rat, and wipes her sticky hair from her face. “What?” she challenges when she sees me laughing.

“You . . . look . . . hilarious.” I try to stand, but my foot slips from under me, and I’m dunked straight back in the water. The water floods my mouth because I’m laughing so hard, and I end up swallowing some. Spluttering and trying to spit out the water while still submerged is quite a feat.

Dad reaches in and grabs me, but like me, he’s got tears in his eyes from laughing so hard at our misfortune.

I’m guessing by the scowl on her face, and the lack-luster attempt to pull at the soaking clothes clinging to her body, Sam’s obviously irritated. Her eyebrows are knitted together and if I look hard enough, I’m sure she’s breathing fire from her anger.

Her gaze follows my body, and suddenly she bursts into laughter. “You look so bad,” she says while doubling over and trying to grab at her knees. “Oh my God. I like to bathe without sharing it with the fish.”

“You girls are making this trip the best one I’ve ever been on,” Dad says while scooping up both my and Sam’s rods which are now floating nearby. “The best!” Chuckling, Dad makes his way back to us, shaking his head he goes toward the river’s bank. “You coming?” he calls to both of us.

Sam turns to me, and rolls her eyes. “You’re gonna be laughing for a while, right?”

“Sure am.”

She shoves at my shoulder, making me step back, lose balance . . . again, and fall back into the water. But before I go down, I grab onto her t-shirt, and bring her with me. “Ugh,” she grumbles while trying to push back from me.

I lose it. Really lose it. Sam’s features are too funny not to laugh as hard as I do. “I have to pee.” I shoot up and start wading as fast as I can back toward the edge.

“Go ahead and pee. The fish do it, you can too,” Dad calls out as loud as he can.

Suddenly an image of fishing peeing makes me laugh even harder. “Yuck. I swallowed the water too.”

“You swallowed fish pee,” Sam chuckles. “Dakota swallowed fish pee. Dakota swallowed fish pee,” she sings while stomping up behind me and points at me, just like little kids do.

My laughing hasn’t stopped, and I try to run away from her but my sides are hurting badly. As I get out of the water, I run toward camp so I can pee, but my rolled-up shorts manage to slip from around my waist and bunch around my knees, making me collide with the ground. Face first.

At this stage I no longer need to pee. My face is covered in sand and dirt, I’m completely filthy and everyone, meaning an older gentleman who was walking down to the water, my Dad and my sister are all laughing at me.

“That has to be the funniest thing I’ve ever seen, lass,” the old man says to me in a rich Australian accent. He holds his hand out to help me up.

Waving it away, I merely sit on the damp ground, laughing my butt off. “Thank you, but I’ll get you dirty,” I say to him.

“Suit yourself. I thank you for providing my day’s entertainment.” He shrugs and keeps walking toward the water.

“You’re so funny.” Sam leans down, and tries to help me up. “Did you wet yourself?” She looks at me and slaps her hand to her head.

“Shotgun for the shower.”

When we get back to the campsite, Mom’s sitting on a folding chair, reading on her Kindle. She looks up and sees me, looks down then immediately looks back to me, doing a double-take. Her eyes are wide and her mouth pops open when she lifts her nose at me. “What happened to you?” Sam follows behind me and Mom’s gaze goes to Sam. “What on earth happened?” She then looks at Dad who’s got the bait bucket and the fishing rods minus the dinner we managed to lose. “I’ll get some towels.” Mom hesitantly steps away, but she turns over her shoulder to catch one last glimpse at us before going to get towels.

Sam and I spend the next hour trying to wash off all the muck of the river. Where we camped is further away from the campground’s utilities, more isolated, although there are other people who still camp here. At the campground’s center, there are communal showers where Sam and I wash our hair and the fishy smell off ourselves.

Going back to where we’ve set up camp, Mom’s prepared some lunch and has set up our small fold-away table. “Where’s Dad?” I’m half-expecting he’ll come out from behind a bush to try and scare us.

“He’s gone to have a shower, too,” Mom says. Sam and I sit at the small fold away bench seat and Mom hands us our plates. “No fish for dinner then.”

I can’t help the smile tugging at the corners of my mouth. “Sorry, Mom.”

“Yeah, sorry,” Sam adds while she fixes herself a sandwich from the ingredients Mom’s set up on the table.

“I heard you had fun. And I saw
how much
fun you had when you returned. Looks like the fish didn’t want to be made into dinner.” Mom chuckles as she makes a sandwich for herself.

While we’re eating our lunch, Dad returns and saunters over to the table. He sits beside Mom, and leans over to kiss her temple. I watch their intimate exchange and it absolutely makes my heart sing. When Dad’s lips connect with Mom’s skin, she smiles and gives Dad a loving gaze. I honestly don’t think he’s even noticed what he’s done, but that delicate touch makes Mom so happy.