Page 36 of Pete and His Precious

“Can I go see the station?”

“You sure can.” He seems pleased that she is interested.

“I wouldn’t mind going along for that,” I say, hoping I’m not pushing myself in where I’m not wanted.

“I hoped you would. And to the farm too. I... Don’t really want to go by myself,” she says softly, looking down.

I’ve often thought that as much as my sister and I butted heads because we’re not the slightest bit similar, I really appreciated the fact that I grew up with a sibling. I can’t imagine not having someone in my house to do things with. Like, to tour a farm and a police station.

“Your Aunt Zoe can go anywhere we go, if she wants to as far as I’m concerned,” Pete says, and the way he says it makes me look at him.

He’s looking at me, and it’s an intense look. Like he’s waiting for me to react to that. Whether I’m supposed to be happy or whether that means that I’m supposed to say something... I’mnot sure. So I just say what I’m thinking. “If I’m able to go, I will. I’m sure we’re going to have a good time this month.”

“I thought it might be boring, because I guess I thought the security person was going to be old and want to sit and watch TV the whole time. But I don’t think that’s true.” Baxley is mature for her age, maybe because she’s an only child, and is around adults a lot. But even for her, that seems like a very mature statement.

I think he is impressed too, because he raises his brows, and then he nods.

“I think that was a compliment,” he says.

“An honest one,” I say, smiling. Then, because I’m a little uncomfortable because of everything that seems to be running between us, I say, “The grounds are really pretty here. Would you like to take a walk, Baxley, and show Pete around your place? After all, he’s going to give you a tour of the farm. You should give him a tour of the grounds here.”

“There’s really not anything to see,” Baxley says.

“There’s the creek.” I say. It’s been a long time since I’ve been in the creek, but when I was a kid, I really enjoyed wading in it, catching crawdads, and just generally getting my feet wet.

I’m not sure Baxley has ever done that. If she has, it’s been a while.

“There are swans in the lake,” I say. There is a small lake at the bottom of the property, and there are two swans who think they own it.

“They’re mean,” Baxley says, wrinkling her nose up.

“We don’t have any swans on the farm. We have ducks and geese. Sometimes the geese are a little edgy, especially if they’ve got babies. I typically stay away from them. I got pinched by a goose once, and it hurts.” Pete lets out a exaggerated shiver, and Baxley looks at him for a moment, then she laughs.

I make a mental note to tell Pete later that I can’t remember the last time I heard Baxley laugh.

“All right,” she says. “Come see the creek and the lake and the swans.” She starts down in front of us, and I fall into step beside Pete.

“Is there really much danger for her?” he asks, as we follow Baxley, who has gotten a little bit ahead of us.

“No. I don’t think there’s ever been any kind of danger, whatsoever. Not a threat, written or physical. But, I guess when a mom is leaving the country, and she has a ton of money, it makes her feel a little bit less guilty for leaving her daughter behind if she hires someone to take care of her.”

Pete nods, and maybe I’ve said more than I should, but that’s the way I see it. I suppose there are other ways to look at it, but I’m not sure any of those other ways are accurate.

“Here’s the creek,” Baxley says a couple of moments later, as the trail bends, and goes beside the creek. There’s a small, wooden bridge that the creek flows under, and from here we can see the pond.

“That’s pretty neat. It’s a nice warm day out. Do you wade in it?”

“Like, get in the creek?” Baxley says, her brows drawn.

“Yeah. Like take off your shoes and socks and get in,” Pete says, and I almost think he’s kind of excited about doing that. Really? I did not peg him for that kind of guy.

“I guess I could,” Baxley says, kind of uncertainly.

“I don’t want to do anything that you’d get in trouble for. But when I was a kid, my favorite thing to do on the farm was to wade in the creek. I didn’t even need to be swimming. It wasn’t really deep enough for that. We just had a good time splashing around, looking for crawdads, and just letting the water run over our feet.”

I can’t imagine him sitting still long enough to let water run over his feet, but maybe that is appealing to him now that he is older.

“Okay,” Baxley says, and she’s wearing capris, so once she has her shoes and socks off, I roll them up so that they're above her knees.

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