Page 106 of Everything Under the Sun

I set my pole on the grass and got up with her.

“No, I got it!” she said excitedly when I reached out to help her. “Let me show you how it’s done!”

I smiled as I watched her, how she pulled and tugged on the pole, her tongue poking from one corner of her mouth, her eyes squinted in concentration, her freckle-speckled nose all scrunched up like cabbage in her adorable face. She walked backward, yanking and pulling the line toward her as the fish struggled on the other end.

When she pulled the fish to the bank, I grabbed it, thumb inside the grainy mouth, index and middle finger holding the outside in place. The fish’s tail moved side to side mechanically as it hung from my fingers, the gills opening and closing against the air.

After pulling the hook from its mouth, I placed the fish in a five-gallon bucket.

Thais looked down into the water as the fish, no bigger than the palm of her hand, swam round and round in the small space.

“That’s about two tiny bites for you,” I joked. “Kinda small, don’t you think?” I grinned and started toward my pole.

Thais followed, her nose scrunched on one side.

“Well,” she said smartly, “a little fish is better than no fish.” She smirked.

She reached for the cup between us and dug around inside the dirt; a worm wiggled between her fingers, and she hooked it.

I laughed lightly and drew in my line again.

“I’ll get one,” I said with confidence. “And mine’ll be big enough for both of us—not like that little appetizer you caught there.”

Thais glared at me, but she couldn’t keep the joy from her eyes.

“I accept the challenge,” she said, undaunted.

She cast her line again and then plopped down next to me, moving the cup of worms out of the way.

Two hours later, bait depleted and I nearly drained of all my blood, we called it quits before sunset.

A sharp smack rang out after my hand shot up and fell across the back of my neck.

“Come on before they eat you alive,” Thais said.

THAIS

We left with two palm-sized fish.

“A big-shot fisherwoman,” Atticus said as we came upon the backyard. “You were right.”

I blushed and set the poles against the side of the house.

“Well, I didn’t really prove anything with my appetizer.”

Atticus smiled.

“You may have only caught one little fish,” he said, setting the bucket next to the bottom step, “but you know what you’re doing. I thought you’d ask me to bait your hook for you, or something. I’m impressed!”

“Well, now you get to impress me,” I said, pointing at the bucket. “By cleaning them.”

He looked at me curiously, arching a brow.

“You mean you don’t know how?”

“Well, I know how, I just don’t want to do it. I don’t like it.”

“Oh, you think it’s…gross.” He laughed lightly. “So, you’re like the other girls, after all.”

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