Tyche
Copyright© 2020 by Old Man with a Pen
Chapter 28
Alice Olsen ... hey ... I had to ask to find out who she is ... Alice. Alice and I suffered through a winter in Pentwater ... on The Lake. That makes us natives. We didn’t run away. Alice didn’t run away because the boat needed work and I stay with Auntie Mom.
Three days of eating at The Antler is enough time for Frank and Ernie to learn our names ... If Old Frank and Old Ernie greet us by name ... that makes Pentwater denizens and it doesn’t get any better than that.
Alice and I are on first name basis with the card players. Mr and Mrs Olsen aren’t.
Next I had to explain my family. I hate doing that ... I get ‘looks.’ Depending on the person ... I might hear, “You poor thing,’ or ‘No ... really?”
Alice said, “Australian?”
And I said, “Yup.” “And New Zealander.”
And as a realization of Geography as taught in North America... “Aren’t they same thing?”
“Huh?”
Ma and Pa Olsen enrolled the Olsen twins in classes appropriate to their age. Seventh grade.
Pentwater is a small school ... like I mentioned ... the business owners abandon the place as soon as the season is over. The poor working folks are stuck in the snow. In the summer ... Pentwater’s population is in the neighborhood of eight thousand people ... in the winter she boasts a tick over eight hundred.
Of a Saturday, I asked Alice if she still wanted a boat.
“You mean ... of my own?”
“Yup.”
“I do,” and she hugged me.
“It just so happens ... I have an extra 3.7 kit and I’m at a stopping place with the Pitts.” I said, “let’s build you a boat.”
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