Thanks to Drew for the edits and ideas. Thanks to my readers for your patience.
I miss you Dad.
Chapter 27
The trip was a relatively quiet one, the girls in Mike's truck talking quietly to each other and actually seeming to ignore him. He really wasn't interested in what they were talking about, anyways. Something about girl stuff, apparently, which actually shocked Mike. Emma wasn't your typical woman. She could easily be considered a tomboy; a gorgeous, sexy tomboy, but a tomboy nonetheless. She hardly ever gushed over a guy, or talked about purses or makeup, or reality television or anything even vaguely female related.
Emily could always be counted on to talk about girly things. She'd been through a lot of adult things lately with her parents and California, but she was still as girly as ever. It seemed that she was infecting Emma.
"Maybe it's like a contagious disease that women get when they're around each other."
Mike wondered briefly if she was just being polite for Emily and that maybe he should say something to rescue her.
He tuned back in briefly. They were talking about getting a pedicure together sometime next week after they got back. He shook his head.
A few minutes later, they were bouncing down the oak-lined road that led to the Stuarts' place.
"Check and see if their tits are bouncin'!"
'Seriously man? How old are you?' Mike thought.
"Oh kiss my ass, you know damn well that you like jigglin' titties just as much as me."
He had a point, and Mike glanced over the next time they hit a rut in the road. Emma and Emily were both pretty small breasted, but they both bounced just the same.
"Niiiice!"
Mike smiled.
"Too bad Blondie McHugetits or the other one weren't in here. That woulda been awesome!"
'Sarah and Beth, jackass.'
"Yeah, yeah."
'I don't think you've ever called them by their names, come to think of it,' Mike thought. 'Why is that?'
"Blondie McHugetits has a nice ring to it, I guess."
He turned off the main road and onto the dirt road that led to the cabin. The first gate was open, as was the second and Mike saw Matt's truck up ahead, pulled off the road next to another one he recognized as Mr. Stuart's, Matt and Missy's dad.
Matt came out from behind a giant oak tree carrying a chainsaw followed by his dad, both of them waving. Mike pulled up next to their pickups and hopped out as Emily and Emma stepped out of the other side.
"Hey Mr. Stuart, how are you?" Mike asked as Matt's dad tossed a pair of gloves into the open window of his truck.
"Mike," he called smiling. "Glad to hear you're okay."
"Y'all have a downed tree?" Mike asked.
"Nah, just needed to do some upkeep here and there."
"Well hell, I wish Matt would've told me, I'd have come help out."
"No need," Mr. Stuart said, waving his hands. "There wasn't much to do anyways. I mowed and Matt trimmed up around the house and down at the dock. There were a few big limbs down but he was just cutting up some firewood for later."
"So are y'all gonna be joinin' us?" Mike asked.
"Naw," Mr. Stuart said, "The wife and I've been looking for some quiet time," he smiled and winked. "Y'all don't want us here anyways. We trust you and your sisters."
"I won't tell Matt," Mike said with a laugh, noticing that Matt and Missy had been left out of the previous statement.
Matt came up then and shook his best friend's hand. "Where ya been, fuckstick?"
"You shoulda told me y'all were working!"
He shook his head, "I was just fuckin' with ya. There wasn't much to do." He turned and nodded at his dad. "There anything else we need to do?"
Mr Stuart was already headed to his truck. "Nah, I'm gonna head home and get some from your momma," he said with a wink.
Matt shook his head and turned toward Mike's truck. "Don't break a hip," he called.
"Try not to burn down the cabin," his dad called back.
Mike laughed and moved to help his friend unload the truck. It always made him envious of Matt when he and his father bantered back and forth. Must be really nice to have that kind of relationship with your dad, where you could bullshit with each other and not worry about offending anyone. Mike turned and saw Emma was showing Emily the property.
The Stuarts, cabin was relatively small, but it was mainly for any women to scared to sleep outside. There was a main room connected to the kitchen with a small table and a few couches, two bedrooms with bunk beds, and a single bathroom with a shower. The cabin itself sat up on a small hill a ways up from the river. There was a dirt path leading down to a large patch of St. Augustine next to a dock and small wooden shed. The flat area at the bottom of the hill followed the river in both directions, but came to an end on the right when the river came back to the edge of the hill, cutting off the flat area.
The river itself was cool and relatively clear, forming a wide area in front of the dock and flowing to the right if you were walking down the hill. There was a small rock dam that the Stuarts had built that water flowed gently over, forming a deeper pool on the other side, and shallow, ankle-deep rapids on the other that deepened back into river after thirty feet or so.
Beautiful, huge oak and pecan trees dotted the property, several casting shade over the grassy area at the bottom of the hill.
By the time his sister's car finally pulled up, Mike had all but unloaded his own truck and headed over to help her.
Sarah shook her head as she got out. "It was all in your truck," she said.
Mike nodded and headed towards the cabin where everyone was congregating. Missy was inside with Emma and Emily, Beth, Danni and Sarah joining them, followed by Mike and finally Matt.
The girls were talking amongst themselves as Matt and Mike sat down. Matt reached into a cooler by the couch and cracked open a beer, tossing one at his friend. Mike nodded in thanks and popped it open.
"We need to catch some bait and throw out a trot line," Matt said after a few pulls on his beer. "I've been itchin' for some catfish."
Mike nodded. "Yeah, sounds good. Any of y'all wanna help us catch some bait?"
Emily and Emma both called out a yes. He'd known Emma would, but Emily had been a bit of a surprise.
Emily came over and shrugged. "I don't know what I'm doing, but I'll give it a shot."
Mike smiled. "You're gonna wanna get into some wading shoes and old clothes."
She looked at him curiously. "Am I catching fish or wrestling gators?"
"Just trust me. I'm sure Emma has an extra pair of shoes you can use. You can put on a swimsuit and a shirt of mine if you need to."
She smiled and followed Emma, who went to retrieve her own pair of wading shoes, which were just a pair of old shoes she didn't mind getting wet.
Mike nodded at Matt and downed the rest of his beer, and the two went outside after changing quickly to some shorts and wading shoes, stopping to grab the seine and both minnow buckets, a few fishing poles and a small cup of dirt and worms.
"Lets try and get some Hellgrammites first," Mike said as they walked down towards the river.
"Yeah," Matt said, unrolling the seine and laying it out.
As they shook out the ten foot net attached to two poles, Emma and Emily came down the hill then and walked over.
"You catching or holding, Em?" Mike asked.
"You know I don't like those bastards," she responded. "I'm holding."
Emily looked over at her. "What bastards? What exactly are we catching?"
"Hellgrammites," she answered simply, as if that answered the question. "Mean little fuckers."
Mike laughed. "Oh come on, it bit you that one time and you still won't grab them?"
"That shit hurt!"
"Wait a minute," Emily said, "there's stuff in that water that bites?"
Matt laughed. "Oh, they don't hurt that bad."
"What's a Hellgrammite?" she asked.
"It's the larvae of a Dobsonfly. It's got pincers on its face and catfish love to eat 'em."
Emily paled.
Mike laughed then. "Don't worry. They aren't aggressive unless you fuck with them and they hide under rocks in the rapids where they can catch prey that swims past. You'll be fine. You can hold the net with Emma. Matt and I will grab 'em."
She smiled. "Okay. What do we do?"
Emma nodded at the other pole that Matt was holding. "Grab that and follow me."
Mike gingerly stepped into the water ahead of them, followed by Matt. "Goddamn, this feels good," he said as he stepped out from the shade into the gentle rapids.
Emily and Emma both took their time walking out to the boys, ensuring they didn't fall.
"Alright, spread out and hold the bottom of the net on the bottom of the river, and dig it in a little if you can."
The girls did as they were told and soon the flow of the river had the net bowed out in the middle. Emma didn't have any trouble holding it steady, but Emily had to strain a little to hold steady, finally planting her feet and leaning forward slightly.
"There we go," she said.
"Okay, just hold what you got," Matt called.
He and Mike began to turn rocks over and brush them off, a minnow bucket tied to each of the guys.
"Got one," Matt called, holding up a wriggling tan creature between his fingers. It thrashed back and forth and looked like something out of a sci-fi movie.
"Ooh, let me see," Emily called.
