Cian

Earlier, when I came out onto our porch, I looked down the road towards Jenny's cabin. I saw her and Siofra talking to Walker. Thank goodness for short shorts. That's all I can say. When Siofra bent over to stretch, my mouth went dry. At least I hadn't drooled all over myself before getting back inside to wait for Walker's help.

Behind me our front door opens and bangs shut. I turn around and mouth to Walker that Dad is on the line. "Ok, Dad, Walker just came in. Here he is." I hand the phone to my brother.

"Yeah, ok, Dad, give me a minute" I hear Walker reply. "We'll go downstairs and check, and I'll call you right back." He pushes the off button on the phone and turns towards me.

"I need your help for a second, Cian," Walker says. He follows my line of sight out the window and down the drive. "Come on," he continues. "It won't take long, and we can come back out; see what they're up to."

When we're working downstairs a few minutes later my mind is preoccupied.

"Cian. Earth to Cian. Are you in there?" Walker asks, snapping his fingers in my face to bring me back to the present.

"What, man?" I ask, annoyed.

"The flashlight. Can you hold it a little bit closer and angle it slightly back? Yeah, like that. Stay right there."

I'm helping Walker with our breaker box. Dad's working on the electric in our house and needs a particular part for the circuit box. Walker and I are trying to see the tiny print on one of the parts. Since the breaker box is old, and is in the back of our basement where hardly any light is, I hold our flashlight, while Walker reads the numbers to our dad over the phone.

"OK, you can turn it off now, Cian. I got what he needed," he says, dusting his fingers off onto the sides of his jeans and hanging up with our father.

"Thanks," he says.

"Yeah, sure, Walker," I growl. "Anytime."

"Hey, what's up with you, Cian?" Walker asks, grabbing my sleeve before I can make my way back up the stairs.

I let out a long sigh and shake my head. "Got my mind on something else, that's all."

"Uh-huh. Does that something else happen to be wearing short shorts and a red tank top today?"

"Shut up, Walker," I say shoving him. "It just so happens that it does."

"Mmm-hmmm. Well, why don't you go outside and talk to her then?" he asks.

"Ironic words coming from you, don't you think?"

"What?" Walker asks, confusion obvious across his face.

"Jenny. That's what." I reply poking him in his self-righteous chest.

Realization dawning, he just says "Oh."

"Yeah. 'Oh,'" I chide him, calmer now. "Come on, big guy. Let's both of us go back up. It's going to be a warm day. We'll invite the girls to go down to Cold Creek with us; catch some fish. Afterwards, we can swim over at Foster's Pond with the usual gang. I hear they're all hanging out there later this afternoon."

"Alright, I'm in. Let's go."

We grab our fishing gear, and trudge up the steps, plan in the works. Looking back, I wonder what would've happened if I'd never made the suggestion to go.

Jenny

I can see Cian kicking rocks as I walk up the drive to his house. We live on a gravel road that's lined with a sparse number of small log cabin homes. The Graham's house is the last one on our drive. Our homes, while looking like cabins, have all the usual amenities that regular houses do, but you'd never know it from their exteriors. They are very rustic looking, complete with country gingham curtains and rocking chairs on our porches. Not far from our front door is a nearby lake that rocks lazily against a beachy, pebbled shore. The water's edge is far enough away that during heavy rains the water has somewhere to go besides up to our homes, but it is close enough that you can walk down to it whenever you want. I like sitting on a fallen tree that christens the nearest opening of the lake, near our cabin. It helps me think sometimes; the sound of the water lapping against the shore, rubbing against tiny seashells and various slate stones lining the basin's bottom.

"Yo, Cian, let's go! Let's move it!" I smile, hearing Walker's voice as I approach.

Walker is one of my best friends. Actually, both the Graham boys are in their own ways. Walker and I share the same affinity for mischief, though. Watching Cian, I giggle to myself. I can see him dipping his pinky finger into his soda glass from here. Remembering the time we spiked Cian's soda with hot sauce makes me laugh. Ever since that day, Cian has never been able to drink his soda without giving it a finger dip test first. Realizing it is safe to drink, Cian chugs his drink down and then gets up to finish loading the car.

The guys asked Siofra and me to ride out to Cold Creek today. Siofra's brother Fionn will be there, too. The fishing is great and we usually all make out well catching trout. When we're done fishing for the day we'll head over to Foster's Pond to cool off. Foster's sits a little ways off Cold Creek and is full to the top with ice cold spring water. I can never stay in it long; it's so cold. I love jumping off the rope-swing with the gang, though. Someone tied it to a nearby tree and it's awesome to swing right out to the center of the pond and leap off.

Later I'll look back on this day and wonder what would've happened if I'd've just stayed home and let the boys go alone.

Walker

I'm loading our fishing rods into the back of our pick up when I catch movement in my peripheral view coming from down the road. Realizing it's Jenny, I give her a quick holler of hello.

Damn she looks hot today. Jenny's wearing a little yellow sundress with blue denim flip flops. The straps of her red tankini peak out from under her dress. She isn't wearing a stitch of make-up, and her feet are dusty from walking up the gravel drive.

"Hey, Walker," Cian whispers smiling and walking towards the truck with our fishing gear, "when you're done salivating over there, give me a hand with this stuff."

Taking a deep breath, I look away from Jenny and pull myself together. I bend over, pick up our cooler and place it in the truck.

Seeing me, Jenny runs up and hangs her arms across my shoulders playfully. I close my eyes to get myself under control. Jenny is going to be the death of me. She may be a year younger than me, but it doesn't matter. We're best friends. Jenny's always getting me to help her play pranks on my brother. She loves watching Cian's reaction to them. Not that I'm any different; I'm just as bad. I can never help myself around Jenny; I love being her co-conspirator. Truth be told, I'm dying to grab her behind a tree and kiss her little flip flops right off her feet. The only problem is that I can't risk it. I'm too afraid to rock the friendship boat. Instead, I find myself looking down into her devilish green eyes asking, "So, what should we do to him this time?"

She takes her hands down from my shoulders and throws her head back laughing, "I've no idea, Walker, what should we do?" giving me a look that spells trouble.

Poor Cian.

No, scratch that.

Poor me.

Cian

"Siofra's coming, right?" I ask eagerly. When Walker nods, I find myself grinning instinctively. I should know this already anyway. Jenny and her are best friends and wherever one goes, so does the other. Being the overprotective brother that he is, if Siofra is joining us, Fionn won't be far behind either. Truth be told, we all hang out together constantly. Our cousin Tadhg, and the girls' friend, Caoilainn are usually with us as well. Between Walker and me, and them, we make up our own little tribe. As we finish packing, I bide my time with our driveway rocks. I'm busy kicking and knocking them across the road and into the nearest tree when I see Jenny approach from her house to walk up towards us. Looking around I see that my brother is stopped in his tracks, lost in a trance. I rib him a little to bring him back to earth.

My family has a soft spot for Jenny. When she was 12, Jenny's parents were involved in a fatal drunk driving accident. Luckily for Jenny, her grandparents were there to step in. It's been a while since that tragic night. My family sort of adopted her since she moved into the cabin next door.

Of the seven of us, there're a lot of times when Jenny and my older brother, Walker, break off to hang out alone. They like to play cards, go on runs, and think up ways to torture me. They both love playing pranks. One time they even superglued the toilet seat rim so that when I sat down on it I'd get my hands stuck. Talk about embarrassing. It was all I could do to convince them not to post the incident online.

Jenny isn't like the other girls in our area. She isn't afraid to get dirty, can hit a fastball as well as my brother and I, and likes to build bonfires. She can tie a sailor's knot, has no problem gutting a fish, or shooting our .22 rifle. On top of it all, she's a great cook and my mother loves her. They spend a lot of time together doing all kinds of things Irish.

Lost in thought, I overhear Jenny and Walker laughing, "OMG, I thought he was going to kill us last week when we did that. Your dad was even mad, Walker."

"I know. He said I disrespected the flag," Walker laughs, then frowns. "He was right, though. I shouldn't have done it." After about two seconds of being serious, Walker's smile returns. "It was pretty priceless, though-"

"You two are hilarious," I say cutting Walker off, and giving them both a serious look. They turn towards me. Jenny is biting the corner of her lip and Walker is holding the back of his hand across his mouth.

"Did you have to fly my underwear up our flagpole the one night Siofra slept over your cabin, Jenny?" Now they're both laughing at me. "I'm mean, seriously, Walker? Filling my fishing waders with dead minnows, or stuffing corn kernels into my pockets wasn't enough? You had to do that when Siofra was here?"

Just then, my mom comes outside with another glass of ice cold soda for me. While I finish loading up the tackle boxes I leave the glass sit on our nearby picnic table until I can get to it. Walker looks at the glass, and back at Jenny, and they both start giggling like loons again.

"Yeah, real funny, guys."

____________________________________________________________

Chapter 2-Photography Copyright 2018-By A. R. F.

Here are some naming resources I found online about Irish baby girl (and boy!) names to help me decide on character names and to learn more about them. Later on in the book, I'll provide resources about Irish baby boy names as well.

Hampshire, . J. (2017) Irish Baby Girl Names with Pronunciations qnd Meanings. Names from Ireland. YouTube. Website: https://youtu.be/hWS5yKxUw7c
Web Search: 24 May 2021.

Campbell, M. (2016-2021). Behind the Name. The Etymology and History of First Names. Website: https://www.behindthename.com/. Web Search: 24 May 2021.

www.wikipedia.com web searches.

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