I don’t know what Jud’s talking about? We went on a nice drive. I’m a good driver, even though I’m just starting. I don’t think I messed up too bad. I think it’s mostly stuff that I just don’t know I’m supposed to do? I think I’ll be way better next time Jud takes me out. I think so. That’s right. We’ll be better next time. I’ll be better next time. I’m going to be the best driver around. When I go back home I’m going to get my license and then I’ll drive all over town. I’ll drive myself to the mall and I’ll drive myself to beach. Lindsey will be super jealous because she’s only fifteen. I won’t need to get rides from Jodi anymore.
I miss Jodi. I miss Jodi so much. I wish I could talk to him. I miss being in his arms. I always felt so safe when he held me. I miss him. I miss him. I miss him so much. I need to talk to him. I need to figure out a way to call him.
Maybe I could write him a letter? Ooh, then he’d write me a letter back! That would be so romantic. I’ll write him a love letter. Why didn’t I think of this before? What a great idea! Wow. I’ll have to see if Granny Jean has any paper for letters. And I guess I’ll need an envelope too. And a stamp? Where do you get all that stuff? I bet Granny Jean has all that stuff. Old people send lots of letters.
Granny Jean? Do you have like all the stuff you need to send a letter? Like stamps? I want to write a letter to Jodi. Because I just do, okay? I want him to write me a letter back? Do you have stamps and stuff like that? Okay, I’ll ask Jud. What are you doing? Will that keep it out? What’s to stop it from just climbing over the fence? I don’t know.
Where’s Jud. His truck’s not here. Maybe he’s down at the bait shop. I could walk down there and see if they have the stuff I need. Yeah, okay. Granny Jean! I’m going to walk down to the bait shop! Okay!
I need to decide what I’m going to put in my letter to Jodi. It needs to say to show him how much I love him. I want him to cry when he reads it, but I don’t want him to tell me he cried. He’ll no better than that, I hope. I think. It’s a really nice day. I’m glad that heat wave broke. It’s so nice down here in the summer. I see why Granny Jean wanted to move down here. It’s so nice. It’s not muggy anymore at all.
I think I’m going to say something like maybe Dear Jodi. Or maybe Dearest Jodi. Ooh or I could say like Dearest Joseph. Ooh I like that one. Dearest Joseph. Oooh what if like I wrote him like a Civil War love letter. Like they talked about in English class. Like they used to write so eloquent and cool back then. What if I went away to Mississippi for the summer and came back all eloquent and graceful like a Southern Belle? I mean my Dad’s from here, so I’m half Southern anyway. And people are always making fun of my Dad’s accent. What if I started talking like that? They’d probably start making fun of my accent too, but what if it was like one of those like genteel accents like in old Civil War movies. Not like Dad or Jud or even Granny Jean. They sound like hillbillies. Granny Jean not as much, but still a little.
What if I wrote him a letter in like that kind of Southern lady Southern Belle style and like also… also like I need to let him know I miss him and love him so much. Like when we graduate I want to get married. I’m not going to tell him that though. I’m going to like say it without saying it. I need to be a little coy, I think. In the letter. I need to watch some old movies and see how the Southern Belles act in the movies. I’ll ask Granny Jean what movies I should watch. Or maybe I’ll just ask Jud.
I think I might have to start dressing different. Like I don’t think Southern Belles wear halter tops. I wish there were some girls my age around so I could see what they wear. But they probably wouldn’t be Southern Belles anyway? I think we are pretty deep into hillbilly country. Is hillbilly the right word? Like there aren’t any hills anywhere. Like it’s all really flat except for the levee, and I don’t think that counts. Like can you even be a hillbilly if there aren’t any hills. Are they rednecks? No, that doesn’t seem right. Like Granny Jean is not a redneck. Jud might be a little bit of a redneck. But not Granny Jean.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
There’s not a lot of people in the pool. I could swim! But I should go see if I can find Jud. I could check in the bait shop and then swim. Jud might not even be at the bait shop. I don’t really like the bait shop. It smells kind of funky in there. Plus I guess Jud will come back home eventually. I’ll ask him when he gets back. I’ll swim instead. Yeah!
It’s so much nicer now! The concrete isn’t hot at all. I wonder if the water will be too cold since it isn’t so hot out. I hope not. That guy doesn’t seem to care. Well we’ll see. Hey Pocahontas! Ugh, she’s so cool. I want hair like that. Can a Southern Belle have hair like that? She’d probably tell me I can have my hair like any way I want it. Like a Southern Belle can be anything. Ugh. I hate that. Like I want to look like a Southern Belle, not like just whatever I’m a Southern Belle now. I want people to know. I want people to see what I’m going for. But her hair is so cool!
Ugh! I wish there was a place to put my stuff. Like a locker or something. Ugh. I hate leaving everything out in the open like this. I don’t even have my bag. I’ll just fold up my shorts and put my phone in the middle. Not that it would matter if it was stolen because I can’t call anybody! I guess all my music is on there. Yeah, let’s put that there.
Should I jump right in or try it out first. It might be cold. I’ll try it out first. I’ll just stick my little foot in and… it’s not cold at all. It’s nice! Alright! Here we go!
Oooh! It’s so nice! I love the water. Anybody who doesn’t love swimming is not my friend! Ha! I love it. It’s so nice. Aaah. I wish I could breathe water so I could swim under the water and just be down there for like an hour. That would be so nice. To just be surrounded by water! Like I wish I was a mermaid. That’s so stupid, but I wish it were true. It would be so cool to be a mermaid. Like a Southern Belle mermaid. That would be cool. With an undercut like Pocahontas! No. That doesn’t work. Like there have to be some rules or anything can just be anything and it’s not as fun. Southern Belle’s don’t have undercuts.
Southern Belles have long flowing hair and maybe they curl it at the ends? It’s wavy and flowing, like the water. They have mermaid hair! Ha! That’s great. I need to grow my hair out. Really long. Like not Rapunzel long, but pretty long. I’ll need to find out what Southern Belle’s wear. I don’t think I can wear like a big gown everywhere. Like I bet those things are crazy expensive too. What do Southern girls wear when they go to parties? Like I bet they wear what we wear in Ohio. Just normal clothes. I don’t know. This might be harder than I thought.
Maybe it’s more about attitude than clothes. Like how does a Southern Belle act? Like I know they’re graceful and eloquent and stuff. I don’t know what else. I don’t think they put out. Hmm. Would Jodi stop liking me if I stopped putting out? Would he break up with me? No I don’t want that. Plus I like it a lot. Maybe I’ll put a condition on it, though. Like I’ll only put out if Jodi starts acting like a Gentleman or something. Like Southern Belles only let real gentlemen fuck them. Jodi can’t be a Southern gentleman though. His family is from Canada. He could be Northern Gentleman.
Ooh! We’d be a Southern Lady and a Northern Gentleman! That’s so cool. Like when we get married we could have a Civil War themed wedding! Ooh. Ooh I need to read a book about the Civil War or something. Watch a movie. I bet Jud knows some good Civil War movies. There must be tons of Civil War stuff all around. Like they actually fought it down here right? I bet there’s battlefields and stuff. Maybe I can get Granny Jean and Jud to take me to a battlefield. Or like a Civil War reenactment. That would be cool.
I need to go find Jud. I need to ask him about letter stuff and about Civil War stuff. I didn’t see his truck at the bait shot, but he might be back at the house. I should go see if he’s home. There’s a lot I need to do. I should really get out of the pool and go back to the house. But the pool’s so nice. I’m so relaxed. It’s so nice. I’ll talk to Jud later. I’ll just keep swimming for a while.