the first occasion

[deepest_magic]

The house just northeast of Forks proper is very big, quite abandoned, and really easy to just walk right in if you're of a mind to. There are signs that people have been camping in it while hiking, but currently it is unoccupied by visitors, squatters, or any animals larger than a squirrel. There's been a fair amount of furniture but fewer small possessions left behind: couch, piano, dining table, wardrobe, armchair, kingsized bed. It's in extremely variable states of repair.

Comments

[deepest_magic]

Yep!

"Dad, this is Elizabeth. Elizabeth, this is my dad."

[sundayfish]

"Good to meet you, Elizabeth."

[neverbeatme]

"Hi," says Elizabeth. "I hear there's going to be fish!"

[sundayfish]

"Mm-hm. Trout."

Elizabeth is presented with trout. Lemony garlicky fishy trout, crispy around the edges from the frying pan.

[neverbeatme]

Elizabeth approves of the trout.

"I approve of this fish."

[sundayfish]

"Good, good."

[deepest_magic]

"I still don't understand why you can do fish but not - grilled cheese or spaghetti or something," giggles Bella.

[sundayfish]

"When I pull a cheese out of a river maybe I'll grill it."

[neverbeatme]

...Elizabeth cracks up.

[deepest_magic]

Bella does too. "But - but why would that even make a difference, it's still the same thing, couldn't you make grocery store fish too?"

[sundayfish]

"Couldn't say. Haven't tried it, never had that bad a string of luck."

[neverbeatme]

"Could you guess, though?"

[sundayfish]

"Might be it'd go wrong for no reason. Spaghetti does."

[deepest_magic]

"There's always a reason for the spaghetti. You don't stir it or you don't get it all the way underwater or you let it boil over or you overcook it or you undercook it."

[neverbeatme]

"And yet - perfectly good at fish. It's a mystery."

[deepest_magic]

"He pulls it out of the river himself, that's clearly got something to do with it."

[neverbeatme]

"Maybe sometime when he goes out fishing, we should sneak upriver with a bunch of packages of spaghetti and little tiny rafts to put them on," she suggests.

[deepest_magic]

Bella laughs.

[sundayfish]

Charlie does too.

[neverbeatme]

"And then if that spaghetti is well-behaved, we'll know the secret to making your dad good at cooking things!"

[sundayfish]

"Bit of a roundabout way to get them cooked. Sandwiches're fine."

[deepest_magic]

"And I can cook any things that need proper cooking and aren't fish."

[neverbeatme]

"But little tiny rafts," says Elizabeth. "And what about when you're not here? Is it all fish and sandwiches, all the time?"

[deepest_magic]

"He eats fish and sandwiches and microwave things and if I call him to remind him to buy them he'll eat apples, and he eats out sometimes or over with friends."

[neverbeatme]

"Well," she says to Charlie, "if you ever want me to put some spaghetti on little tiny rafts for you, just say."