Avery Story

The two boys sat by the lake. Avery watched Eno as he held the metal rod he had dropped earlier. 

"It's called a fishing rod." He held it in front of Avery.

"A fishing rod?" Avery repeated, his ears perked with curiosity as he ran his eyes up all the different parts of it. 

"Yeah! And to use it you just put one of these," he took a worm from a bucket next to him. "And you put it on the hook, like this!" Eno stuck the worm onto the hook, threw his arms back, and cast the fishing line. 

"And now you just wait for a fish to get it." 

"Wow, one of the first human tools I get to see up close!" 

"What happens when a fish comes?" Avery asked with a hint of excitement in his voice.

"Well, you reel it in!" 

"Reel?"

"Just watch," Eno assured. They sat and waited, staring at the lure floating on the surface. Avery watched closely for something to move or appear. After several minutes of waiting, ripples appeared in the water and something started tugging at the lure. 

"Oh! Something's there," Avery exclaimed, watching with his ears alert. 

Eno readied himself for a tug, and then it came furiously, dragging him off his feet. Just before he tumbled over into the water, Avery caught him and pulled back. Eno grunted, still holding onto the rod. Then with a big pull, Eno whipped the fishing rod upward and a big wriggling fish emerged from the water. 

Avery gasped at the quick action. He couldn't contain his awe in the current moment. "Oh wow!" Eno reeled the fish in closer with a big grin on his face. "Oh yeah! We did it, I caught a big one!" He held the fish up by the string and watched it flop around. It was half the size of his body. Droplets of water splashed and created little ripples in the lake.

"Uh, Eno?"

Eno was busy laughing at his own joke earlier. 

"Eno."

He stopped at Avery's sudden serious tone."What? I didn't mean it as a bad thing," Eno said apologetically.

Avery intervened. "No, it's not that," he replied. "I just need to ask you, Eno; where are your parents?"

Eno stood for a moment. "Parents?" He plopped down on the grass and started casually playing in it. "I haven't heard that word in a while." 

Avery's expression changed from insistent to sympathetic as he watched Eno quietly pluck blades of the wet grass. 

"... Do you have any parents?"

Eno shook his head. "They left a long time ago," he said, tapping a twig on the ground. There was an air of sullenness in his voice. Avery observed this and thought for a moment. 

"Eno must have been covering up these emotions about his parents for a long time. He's gotten good at hiding it, too."