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

[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."

[deepest_magic]

"I guess."

[neverbeatme]

"They're definitely spookier," she says. She looks at Charlie. "You know the one we're talking about, right? Bella said she heard about it from you."

[sundayfish]

"Not many kids go missing more than an afternoon in Forks. I remember."

[neverbeatme]

"What happened?"

[sundayfish]

"Well, nobody knows. If you want the whole story - kid's name was Delaney Hammond, had some unfortunate middle names I can't quite remember, he was a year behind me in school but may've been he was held back. Family moved in, he vanished, ugly rumors started flying around - parents took a while to report it, could've been because he was the sort you'd expect to wander off without permission. May have done, anyway, but he didn't come back. Family and their chauffeur were inconsistent about where he'd been the last time they saw him or whether he'd have gone anyplace in particular, mother seemed sort of relieved for some reason - but there was no physical evidence to speak of, case is long cold."

[neverbeatme]

"It's even spookier with the details," Elizabeth observes. "But thanks. What kinds of ugly rumours were they?"