Why don’t you and Cal see what you can do about making a fire pit?”“I can do that,” Jimmy said pleased to be assigned a meaningful task that w...uld help the situation.Cal asked, “Who put you in charge?”“I did,” Betsy answered.“Why should you be in charge?”Betsy said, “Well, it’s like this: I’m the strongest, fastest, and healthiest one among us.”“I should be in charge,” Cal said.“Really?” Betsy asked in disgust.Jimmy said, “Actually, she should be in charge. She’s the only one of us who’s. ” “Ahh, so there we have it. You’re not a native.” “Not quite. But I was born with a mermaid’s tail,” she teased with a wink. “This just seemed like a better long-term fit for me.” “So where are you staying?” “With a friend. It’s just temporary though. I moved out of my ex’s place a few weeks ago. I have to get used to the single life again.” And just like that, I already had an imperceptible fear of losing her, like a fish nibbling on a hook. I didn’t want to fuck this up. Girls like her. "Have you ever fired a gun before?" she asked."No Miss Evelyn, I have seen many guns, but the men always had them. There are too many guns." Charity shivered at the horrors she had witnessed, but kept buried at the back of her mind."Well, I'll leave it for you anyway." Evelyn said."Please Miss Evelyn, I don't want to be left alone." Fear showed in Charity's eyes."I'm sorry Charity, but there's no way I'm going to take you with me today, absolutely not, and I don't want to hear any more about. I'm proud ofyou."The next day we painted the wood with water seal so all sides would beprotected. It was messy work, but I enjoyed the interaction with myfather. Dad told me stories of how he learned building from his fatherand his father had learned from his father before him. Our time togetherwas becoming very special as my father taught me what real men taughttheir boys. He never showed anger even though I would make the samemistake over and over, but patiently showed me the right way to.