How Green Becomes Wood

"As long as Dark faints seeing that kid being born, it'll work out," Cooger replied regarding his gambling, "I bet him $50 he would, and if he does, then I'm still up $30."

Then he scratched the back of his neck, "Ah, I don't rightly know. Something non-competitive, I guess, so I don't have to lose to another snot-nosed brat."
 
"Hey, my nose is perfectly clean, thank you," Alec sniffed, pretending to be offended.

Xander snorted in amusement. "Alright, what do you want to do instead? Go fishing? Pet the turtles? See if we can teach the chickens to cluck out a song? Stare off into nothing while drinking?"
 
Cooger scratched the back of his head, "Yeah, I guess we can go fishing. I think probably if we all sat quietly and drank soda then our thoughts would all catch up to us, and there's no use in that." He started heading towards where he kept the fishing supplies, "and I'll bring a speaker so we can put on a podcast or music or something so the silence of fishing don't get to us neither."
 
"How come you don't keep anything like a horse or something like that?" Xander asked, following after Cooger. "You could go on trail rides and stuff when you get bored out here."

"Are you sure you don't need to go back to work?" Alec asked, worried. "I don't want you to lose a client because of us."
 
"Not because of you, because of that kid," Cooger replied immediately, "and I already canceled telling my clients my sister-in-law is in labour. It's a family emergency, if my clients take issue with that, then I don't want their money. And horses are expensive and hard to care for. It's not really a good choice for my lifestyle."
 
Xander glanced around before offering to help Cooger carry some of the supplies. "How about a donkey?"

"Don't they bite?" Alec asked.

"No more or less than any other creature," Xander responded.
 
"I definitely weigh too much to ride a donkey around," Cooger replied, "been thinking about getting an ATV though. But those things, if they flip, they can crush you and kill you dead. I keep thinking, I live alone, if I go out riding and I get pinned, there'll be no one around for miles to hear me call for help. And that's why I ain't bought one yet."
 
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Alec shuddered. "Oh, that's a horrifying image!" he whispered, expression pinched.

"Which is why he said he wasn't going to get one," Xander reminded him.

Alec eyed the boat thoughtfully as they approached. "What are we going to do if we actually catch a fish?"
 
"Depends on the fish. If it's invasive and it's good to eat, we eat it. If it's invasive and bad to eat we feed it to the cats. If it's endangered or too young we throw it back and if the population is doing fine, we eat it. Gotta try to make ecologically smart choices and all that." He shrugged, "I used to never eat carp 'cause they're bottom feeders but then Dark fussed at me so now I give the carp to him."
 
"What's a carp?" both twins asked simultaneously.

"Outside of the obvious," Xander added. "It's a fish, we get that."

"But what kind of fish? Is it pretty or ugly?" Alec asked.
 
"It's a family of fish, actually, not just one kind. I think goldfish are a kinda carp? And koi?" He thought about it, and nodded, affirming himself to be correct, "but a lotta American's think they're not good eating, 'cause they're bottom feeders and all. But a lotta people elsewhere think they're great. That really good grilled fish Dark makes, that uh... Masgouf, that's carp."
 
"Maybe Americans just don't know how to cook it properly," Alec suggested, carefully climbing into the boat. "Anything is awful if you don't know how to make it right."

"That's true enough," Xander grumbled, stabilizing the boat for Alec before following him.
 
"That's probably it," Cooger agreed, getting into the boat, "do you want me to drive the boat, or do one of you want to do it? We can take turns and everything, I just don't know if one of you wants to take the helm from the start."
 
"I'll do it!" Xander offered eagerly.

"I think you should get us started, Cooger," Alec said, grabbing Xander's arm.

Xander huffed but sat down again. "Spoil sport."

"Once we're out in the water and not in danger of running over the dock, then you can drive," Alec offered reasonably.
 
"That's probably a smart idea," Cooger chuckled, taking his seat at the helm and piloting them away from the dock, "You're both lucky I already had the boat in the water, because otherwise we'd just be fishing on the dock itself, and I'll bet you'd both have way less fun if we did it that way."

At that moment, the midwife had arrived at the house, and had let herself in at their request, since Dark didn't want to leave Daizi alone. It was 3:30 pm, then, and although the progression wasn't rapid, the progression was happening, and Dark's little hope that the medicine would miraculously manage to successfully stop the process was gone.
 
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"Will we see any turtles out there?" Alec asked, leaning out of the boat.

"What is it with you and the turtles? You never had this obsession before," Xander frowned.

"I never saw a turtle before, either," Alec retorted. "At least, not in real life. They are fascinating creatures!"
 
"When we're stopped maybe, if we're still. I honestly don't really know how far out the turtles come, I really only see 'em when we're right on the shore."

Stopping in what seemed to be right about the best place, Cooger distributed the fishing poles and opened up the tacklebox, "Now, I didn't know we were gonna do this today, so I don't have perfect bait, but I've got cheesecubes, which should do fine enough. Y'all know the drill, right? I don't gotta talk it through again?"
 
"Oh, a whole bunch. Chub, barbel, trout, catfish... And our old friend the carp. So maybe we'll be giving Dark his chance to make fresh masgouf," He paused, taking a weighted moment, "or I guess you will be given the chance, little Gladiator, since you're taking those duties."
 
"I don't know what masgouf is, but I'll figure it out," Xander agreed with a nod. He tossed his hook out into the water. "It's a responsibility I'm kind of looking forward to."

Alec said nothing as he carefully let his hook over the side of the boat. No turtles as far as he could tell.
 
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