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

[sundayfish]

"Y'only tried it the once."

[deepest_magic]

"That was enough."

[neverbeatme]

"I've never tried it, so I don't know if I like it or not," says Elizabeth. "I like a lot of things that bore other people. Math. Literature. Maybe fishing is another one."

[deepest_magic]

"Literature's not boring, and at least math involves... doing things," says Bella.

[neverbeatme]

"Literature bores lots of people."

[deepest_magic]

"That's silly. It's stories. Fishing is sitting and being eaten by mosquitoes."

[neverbeatme]

She turns to Charlie. "What do you like about fishing?"

[sundayfish]

"Mm - it's quiet. Can be done just so - fiddly bits to do setting up, but once you've done them they're done. And then there's fish."

[neverbeatme]

"Hmm. Okay," she says. "I still don't know if I'd like it. But I might. The fish is definitely a plus."

[deepest_magic]

"I won't argue about that part." Bella takes seconds.

[neverbeatme]

Elizabeth contemplates the quantity of available fish, and then also takes seconds. Yum.

[deepest_magic]

"I made lemon bars yesterday and there are a bunch left for dessert," Bella says, when the fish has been put away into various stomachs and a little in the fridge under plastic wrap.

[neverbeatme]

"Ooh," says Elizabeth. "I'm glad I didn't quite have all the fish I possibly could."

[deepest_magic]

"I can't think of many cases where it would be a good reason to have all the fish you possibly could." Bella gets out lemon squares. They're already cut. She takes two to Charlie's one.

[neverbeatme]

Elizabeth takes one lemon square. "If you were hungry and all you had to eat was fish and you didn't know when you'd be getting more," she suggests.

[deepest_magic]

"I said I couldn't think of many, not that there were none. You might also want to eat all the fish you possibly could if you did not have a refrigerator or trash pickup."

[neverbeatme]

"If you like fish more than you like any other things," she says next, nibbling on her lemon square.

[deepest_magic]

"I think 'enough fish to put you off lemon squares' is probably less fish than 'all the fish you could possibly eat'."

[neverbeatme]

"I guess that depends what you mean by 'possibly'. I mean, there's such a thing as 'enough fish to put you off more fish', and some of the time that might even be less than enough to put you off lemon squares."

[deepest_magic]

"Oh, I was taking possibly pretty literally, like, until you couldn't swallow any more fish. I wonder if you could die of too much fish? Probably not unless you choked on a bone."

[neverbeatme]

"I was originally going for a looser definition."

[deepest_magic]

"You know what would have made that one fairy tale really anticlimactic would be if the disappeared guy just choked on a fish bone instead of vanishing mysteriously."

[neverbeatme]

"Wait, which fairy tale? Or do you mean the one that actually happened?"

[deepest_magic]

"The one that reminded me of the disappearing kid from the house, remember? I mean, after we changed it."

[neverbeatme]

"Right, I remembered the missing kid, but I didn't remember the fairy tale as well," she says. "I guess missing kids are more memorable."