In Shining Whatever (Three Magic Words Trilogy #2)(55)

"Just how big is this place, anyway?"

Irritation had been replaced by curiosity and, besides, he couldn't stay angry at Kate for very long. She was so darned cute barefoot and in that little sundress. Even though it wasn't a tropical paradise, it was definitely a remote island, and they were alone.

"Big enough to support a family. They had a garden spot and a milk cow and some goats" She looked out across the bayou, shook her head, and followed the shoreline to the far side of the island. A live oak had stood proud and tall at one time, overlooking the swamp, but lightning struck it long before she was born; possibly all the way back when Maw Maw ran all over the island in her bare feet and black braids. It had fallen, and the weather and wild animals had eaten away at the limbs, until it was finally the perfect place to lean against or sit on while fishing.

"That's where we sit," she said.

He baited the hook on one of the poles, tossed it out into the swamp, and sat down to wait. He could get used to this fishing idea real quick. "Who lived here?"

"It's Maw Maw's land and house. It belonged to her family, and she's the last survivor of that generation. She'll leave it to one of her children," Kate said.

"I feel sorry for whoever gets it," he mumbled.

"What did you say?"

"Not a thing. Why didn't we fish where Bubba docked the boat?"

"Fish ain't bitin' there," she said.

"How do you know that? Are you just jerking me around like Bubba did-about-the twenty-pound rats?"

"What?" She looked over her shoulder at him, and her heart threw in a little extra beat.

"Some big animal out there in the swamp called a nutrition that looks like a rat or a small beaver without a flat tail and weighs more than twenty pounds. I heard a bird making a weird noise, and he told me a cock-and-bull story."

"That would be a nutria, and it's not a cock-and-bull story. They're nocturnal, so they're asleep right now, but when night comes, I'll try to show you one," she said.

His eyebrows almost touched the scar across the top of his forehead. "Are you serious? There's a twenty-pound rat out here?"

"More like an undersized beaver. Want to catch one and fry it? Some folks say they're really good"

"No, thank you. Worms look better than fried rat."

"You eat squirrel, and it's nothing but a rat with a fluffy tail," she said.

"That's different."

"Why? Because you've been raised on that idea. Well, folks around here are raised on the nutria idea. You will get tired of fish three times a day before we leave here, so you might change your mind."

"How long do you really think they'll leave us out here?"

"I reckon Maw Maw will consult her voodoo friends. That would be those four old ladies sitting at the table with her last night. They'll read the tea leaves or throw some dirt in the wind, and see how long it takes to filter back down to earth," she said.

"What does that have to do with us?"

"Nothing, but believe me, they'll know the minute we stop fighting and figure we've been here long enough," she said.

"Guess we are here forever." He smiled.

She giggled. "Kind of like Adam and Eve. Reckon this is the real spot for the old Garden of Eden?"

"Hummph," he snorted. "More like the place where the devil was thrown when he got pitched out of the Pearly Gates."

Kate placed a finger over her full lips. "Shhhh, that kind of talk will go straight from your mouth to Maw Maw's ears on the wings of a dove, and we'll be here until St. Peter sets up a snowcone stand in Hades."

"How did y'all get running water in this place? Is there a well?" he asked after fifteen minutes.

She answered with one word. "Cisterns"

After another ten minutes he ventured another question. "Would you tell me what you are talking about?"

"Cisterns. Used to be a big galvanized tub on top of the house; now it's a plastic one. Rainwater goes in and comes out the faucet in the kitchen."

"Then that water's been up there for years if it hasn't rained. It could be polluted with all kinds of ugly things."

"Rains right often here, and there's a top on the cistern. Water flows off the top of the metal roof into pipes that have a filter that prevents leaves and varmints like plain old house rats from getting into it. The one out in the side yard up in a tree doesn't have a top or a pipe. Water goes in and comes out the bottom when you turn on the shower."

His eyebrows went up. "You mean we get to take a bath?"

"A fast one. There's a system. You wet down. Turn it off. Soap up and then turn it back on and get the soap off in a hurry," she said.

"I could do that."

"I have no doubt. You'll want to take one in the middle of the day, after we catch our dinner and supper."

"Why's that?" he asked.

"Because that's the way we do things"

Something took her bobble to the bottom of the swamp, and she flipped a nice big bass up on the bank.

"There's dinner." She removed the hook and put the fish on a stringer, which she staked a couple of feet from the water. Then she eased it back down into the water.