Chapter 7

MANGROVE DREAMING
By Kerrie Bygrave

Chapter 7:

When the alarm blared out at five fifteen in the morning, Caitlyn’s instinct was to turn off the source of annoying bleeping and pull the cover up over her head. But then she remembered that it was the day of the garage sale and she had to make an early start. She had mentioned to Kara, one of the other teachers at school, that she was holding a garage sale, and Kara had warned her that no matter what time you advertised your sale as starting, that potential buyers would converge in the masses on your yard at no later than seven o’clock. Caitlyn had spent the afternoon before, riding around on her bike to the major intersections of Broome, placing signs around advertising the time and place of her sale. She had put eight o’clock on the signs, but after talking to Kara, she had decided to make sure she was ready by seven.
Jolene had dropped by the night before, and Caitlyn had informed her that she planned to be ready by seven, but if Jolene didn’t want to come that early, she understood. Jolene had replied that she would see how she went. Jolene planned to go to the Roey that night, and it would just depend how late she was out as to how early she would show up.
Caitlyn grabbed a quick coffee to wake herself up, then had a quick shower. She then started dragging the old furniture from the back veranda through to the front yard. By the time she finished that, it was coming up to six thirty already. Next she took the old plastic table that belonged with the unit out to the front yard and unpacked the boxes of unwanted bits and pieces she’d put to the side onto it. Caitlyn also grabbed the fishing gear she had bought the weekend before, and brought it out the front. She debated whether or not to put prices on the items she was selling, and decided that maybe she’d better, so that Jolene would know what to sell things for. She found a marker pen and some masking tape and started tearing bits of tape off, sticking them on various items and scribbling prices on to them.
Caitlyn hadn’t even finished doing this when the first car pulled up. A family of four got out their four wheel drive and wandered into her front yard. ‘We’re not too early, are we love?’ asked a man who appeared to be the father. His daughters appeared to be about ten and twelve. Caitlyn didn’t recognise them from her school, so she guessed that they were from another school in Broome.
‘No, not really.’ replied Caitlyn. She was so lucky that Kara had warned her to be ready early, or else she would still be just climbing out of bed right about now. The family wandered in and out of the various pieces of furniture. Occasionally, the wife would call out to the husband and he would go and investigate a particular item that she was looking at. The kids came up to Caitlyn and asked if she had any toys for sale.
‘I’m afraid not.’ said Caitlyn. ‘I don’t have any kids, so I don’t have any toys to sell off’. The kids gave her a bored look and the older girl rolled her eyes. Caitlyn quickly added, ‘but I am selling some pretty costume jewellery over on that table if you’re interested.’ This sent the two girls scurrying over to the table that Caitlyn had indicated.
After a few more minutes, the husband came up to Caitlyn with a few odds and ends in his hands including some of the costume jewellery that his daughters had picked out. He also said that he wanted the armchair. He gave her some money and he and his wife loaded the chair into the back of the car.
Caitlyn had about a five minute reprieve before more people arrived. Then it seemed that everyone suddenly arrived at once. Sure enough, just as Kara had predicted, at seven o’clock on the dot, there were fifteen or so people fossicking through her belongings. Caitlyn wandered around amongst them waiting for someone to approach her to buy something. A tall thin man in his early forties was inspecting her fishing gear. He called out to see who the owner was, and Caitlyn hurried over to see him.
‘You honestly want fifty dollars for all this stuff. I thought this was supposed to be a garage sale.’ The man sounded slightly arrogant.
‘It is, but this is all brand new, it’s only been used once. In fact I only brought it a week ago.’
‘So how come you’re selling it then.’
‘I decided fishing wasn’t for me, so I thought I may as well get rid of it.’ Caitlyn didn’t feel like explaining to this man that she felt she wasn’t any good at fishing.
‘I’ll give you thirty bucks for the lot.’
‘Sorry, the lowest I’ll go is forty five. Like I said, it’s all new.’
The man thought about it for a minute and rubbed his chin with his rough gnarly hands.
‘Alright, but I don’t have any money on me at the minute. I’ll be back in half an hour.’ He walked out without even saying goodbye. It amazed Caitlyn how rude some people could be.
All at once, everyone seemed to be bringing items to Caitlyn and trying to pay her. Much to Caitlyn’s relief, Jolene walked into the yard just at that moment. She immediately saw the throngs of people and said to Caitlyn ‘Hey, you’ve got a lot of people here already. What can I do?’ She put down the large bag she was carrying.
‘Thank goodness you’re here. I’ve put prices on most things, so just help people that want to buy something I guess.’
Caitlyn and Jolene spent the next fifteen minutes furiously selling this and that to people. Every now and again, Jolene would ask Caitlyn if she would accept a lower price on certain items. After a while, the crowd thinned out again and eventually there was no-one, and Caitlyn and Jolene were able to sit down for a few minutes and relax for a bit.
While they rested, Caitlyn counted the money she had made so far. ‘Hey, I’ve already made over a hundred dollars.’
‘That’s not bad.’
‘Definitely not, considering I probably would have thrown half of this stuff out if you hadn’t given me the idea of holding a garage sale. Thankyou so much, and thank you for coming along to help. I’ll shout you lunch to show my appreciation’,
‘That’s nice of you. And as for coming to help, it’s not a problem. By the way, that reminds me. I brought some stuff I want to sell. Do you mind if I put it out on display?’
‘Of course not. Go for it. What are you selling?’
‘Actually it’s some of my x-boyfriends things. Just some CDs and surf shirts that he left at my place. We broke up a month ago. I’ve been waiting for him to pick it up, but now I figure, stuff him. He was a bastard anyway. He doesn’t deserve to get it back.’ Jolene pulled about a dozen CDs out and a stack of surf shirts.
‘But what will you do if he does come back for them?’ Caitlyn could see that the CDs were quite new and what’s more, she recognised most of them as new releases. They would have been worth a small fortune. She also noticed that the surf shirts were brand name shirts and would have been worth probably fifty dollars each.
‘I’ll tell him I threw them out. Then I’ll tell him to go to hell. Serves him right for dumping me. And besides, if he wanted this stuff, he should have come and got it by now.’ Jolene sounded almost venomous as she spoke, and she had a look of near rage. Caitlyn was taken aback by her tone and demeanour.
But in a split second, Jolene snapped out of her angry look and smiled Caitlyn’s way. ‘Sorry about that. It wasn’t the best of break-ups.’
‘I understand.’ Caitlyn replied cautiously. ‘Break ups can be hard.’ But after what she had just witnessed, Caitlyn decided that Jolene was definitely not the type that you would want to be on the wrong side off in any situation. She decided to change the subject. ‘So how was last night at the Roey. Did you manage to talk to that guy you told me about?’
‘No. He wasn’t even there last night. I felt really bummed when he didn’t show. I went home early. That’s why I was able to get here just after seven. Some tart has probably got her claws into him and won’t let him out of her sight.’
‘So do you want any of these CDs?’ Jolene continued. ‘You can have them cheap. Five dollars each.’
‘No thanks. I’m trying to save money.’ Caitlyn lied. Some of the titles were by her favourite artist, but she didn’t want to have Jolene’s x-boyfriend’s belongings in her possession, especially given that they could almost be considered stolen.
So Jolene set the CD’s out on the table and used Caitlyn’s marker to price them at ten dollars each. She looked at Caitlyn. ‘I was only going to charge you five dollars, but everyone else can pay ten. They’re worth thirty dollars each.’
The next wave of people arrived soon after that, and Caitlyn and Jolene were busy for the next few hours. There were lots of people who didn’t actually buy anything, they just came in for a look. A few people asked about the fishing gear. But Caitlyn explained that they had been sold. By nine thirty, all of the furniture items had been sold, and by eleven o’clock most other items had been sold as well. There was only the odd person stopping by to look now.
As they sat on the front patio, waiting to see if anyone else would show up, Jolene stretched out her arms, and gave a big yawn. ‘I didn’t realise that a garage sale could be so draining. I might head home and have a sleep. I’ll take a rain cheque on that lunch if you don’t mind.’
‘Of course not. Thanks for your help. I’ll probably pack up soon anyway. I might have a snooze myself.’ Caitlyn paused. ‘But I am disappointed about that fishing gear. Someone told me first thing this morning that they wanted it, and they were going to come back and pay for it within half an hour. I told other people that it was sold, and now it looks like I’m stuck with it.’
‘I take it your fishing trip last week wasn’t too successful.’
‘That’s an understatement.’ Caitlyn laughed.
Jolene stood up and started packing away the few unsold items she had left. ‘Oh well. You never know, a few more people might come along before you pack up. Let them buy the gear if they wanted. You’ve given the person more than enough time to come back.’
‘I guess you’re right, but knowing my luck, I won’t get any other offers.’
‘OK. Then I’m off. Good luck with selling the rest of your stuff. I’ll catch up with you soon.’
Caitlyn waved good bye, and picked up one of the books she’d been trying to sell. She flicked through it and started reading one of the chapters. She read for a while, and she was just thinking in the back of her head, that she might finish up the garage sale, when a shadow fell across her and she realised someone was standing there.
‘I’m sorry, I didn’t hear you come in.’ she said as she closed her book. ‘Now, can I help you with anything…’ Upon looking up she caught her breath. In front of her stood one of the most gorgeous men she’d ever seen. He was about five foot six tall, had jet black hair which was shortish with an ever so subtle wave. It was brushed back off his face, except for a small lock of hair which sat across the left side of his forehead. He wore a brown pair of knee length board shorts, and had a yellow singlet on. His arms were powerfully built with firm bronzed muscles, but not so muscled, that they looked grotesque the way some body builders arms did. In short, Caitlyn thought he looked the picture of perfection, and she wasn’t even normally the type to ‘rate’ guys that she saw.
Caitlyn quickly tried to recompose herself. She hoped it wasn’t too obvious that she was staring. She decided that he mustn’t have noticed because suddenly he flashed her a brilliant smile. Caitlyn was glad she was sitting down, because she felt her knees go weak, and wasn’t quite sure they would have supported her had she been standing up. She started idly rearranging items on the table in front of her as an excuse to stay seated.
‘I’ll just take a look around if you don’t mind.’
‘Yep, go right ahead. I’m afraid there’s only what is on this table and that fishing gear over there.’
‘Well, I don’t think this jewellery would suit me’ Caitlyn laughed despite feeling as nervous as a young school girl with a crush. ‘So I might check out the fishing gear. Is that it over there?’
Yes that’s it.’ Caitlyn stood up and was quietly grateful that her knees were actually supporting her much better than she thought they would. She followed her would-be customer over to where the fishing gear lay. He squatted down to inspect it.
‘Hey, this all looks brand new, how old is it.’
‘It’s only a week old, I bought it last weekend.’
‘And you’re selling it already? Why?’
‘It’s quite embarrassing really,’ Caitlyn glanced at the handsome stranger and blushed, but it had nothing to do with being embarrassed about her fishing misadventure and everything to do with the butterflies in her stomach that took flight every time she looked at him.
‘Oh I get it. You have an embarrassing fishing tale to tell, and I’m a complete stranger, so you don’t want to tell me about it. So I know what I have to do.’
‘You do?’ Caitlyn sounded mystified.
‘Yep. I have to introduce myself.’ H e said matter-of-a-factly.
‘Why do you have to do that?’ She gave him a confused look.
‘It’s obvious isn’t it? If I introduce myself, I won’t be a stranger anymore, then you can tell me what your embarrassing story is.’ He stood back up and held out his hand. ‘Hi, I’m Thomas Carter.’
‘Hi, I’m Caitlyn Jackson.’ Caitlyn shook his hand with her own, and found his hand grip to be warm and inviting. She swore that he held onto her hand a few more seconds than necessary, but she thought that could be just wishful thinking on her behalf. When he did let go, she could still feel her hand tingling.
‘Now, that we’re no longer strangers, I reckon you should tell me your embarrassing fishing story.’ Thomas could see Caitlyn hesitating. ‘You do know that every second person in Broome has an embarrassing fishing tale. It’s almost a right of passage in this town. I don’t think you’re allowed to vote in the local elections without one.’
Caitlyn laughed and started to feel more at ease. Wow, she thought, good looking and a sense of humour.
‘If it’s any help,’ Thomas continued, ‘I can almost guarantee you that I have a more embarrassing story than you.’
‘I seriously doubt that.’
‘Try me. You tell me your most embarrassing fishing story, and I’ll tell you mine.’ He said with a cheeky tone.
‘I actually brought this fishing gear to teach myself how to fish. My auntie lives in town, and she loves to fish. At first I didn’t even want to fish. I would just go along with her on her fishing trips and just enjoy the scenery and read a book, but after a while, I saw how relaxing Aunt Tara found it when she was fishing. So I thought I’d give it a shot. Only thing is, I wanted to try and teach myself to fish, then surprise my aunt by joining in.’
‘You actually went fishing by yourself the very first time you tried fishing?’
‘Yes, I thought it was a good way to ease into it without feeling pressured to be good at it straight away.’ Caitlyn paused. ‘You see, my auntie is quite a remarkable woman, she’s now in her fifties, and she takes herself off fishing all the time, and it’s nothing for her to reel in a huge fish and think nothing of it. I just didn’t want to make a fool of myself in front of her.’
‘I can understand that, but fishing isn’t really the sort of activity you normally teach yourself. And that wasn’t really much of an embarrassing story.’
‘You don’t think so? What’s your embarrassing story then.’
‘I once went fishing at Crab Creek, and went to catch some fresh bait with my throw net in the creek. Because I didn’t want to get my clothes wet or dirty, so I took them off and went in the water, wandering down the creek looking for bait fish.’
‘What’s so embarrassing about that? Did someone see you?’ Caitlyn laughed, trying not to imagine what Thomas would look like with no clothes on.
‘Worse than that. While I was upstream, someone nicked all my gear, including my fishing gear, my clothes which had my car keys in it, my car, and my esky which had my bottle of water in it.’
‘Oh dear, what did you do?’
‘What could I do, except start walking back to town?’
‘How far from town were you?’
“Crab Creek is about a half an hours drive from town. I started walking back hoping someone would pick me up, but considering I only had jocks on... Let’s just say I got a few weird looks from passers by. And I walked for miles without anyone stopping for me, which wasn’t fun on a thirty seven degree day with no water.’
‘So how did you end up getting back to town then?’ By now, Caitlyn could barely contain her laughter.
‘Luckily a mate drove past and after nearly driving on thinking I was some weirdo, he happened to recognise me in his rear view mirror. But boy, I have never lived that day down with him.’
‘I bet.’ replied Caitlyn, her chuckles slowly subsiding.
‘So,’ said Thomas cheekily. ‘Do you still think your story is more embarrassing than mine?’
‘No, not at all. Your story definitely wins hands down.’
‘I told you so. Anyway, I’ll buy your fishing gear but only under one condition.’
‘What’s that?’
‘You have to try fishing again, and this time not try and teach yourself.’
‘Well, my auntie is good at fishing, and I know if anyone could teach me, it would be her, but if you buy my fishing gear, I’ll have nothing to fish with.’
‘Who said I was suggesting that you’re auntie should teach you. I thought you said you wanted to get some practice in before you tried fishing with her.’
‘Yeah, but if you take my fishing gear, and I don’t get my Aunt to teach me then how…’ It suddenly dawned on Caitlyn what Thomas was hinting at. ‘You mean you want to teach me?’
‘Is that such a bad idea?’
‘Oh I couldn’t ask you to do that. You’re probably too busy for that.’
‘Hey, I wouldn’t be offering if I didn’t have the time. In fact, what are you doing tomorrow?’
‘Nothing, but are you sure…’
‘Course I am, see you at seven thirty tomorrow morning. We’ll head out early before it gets too hot.’
‘But I haven’t said yes yet.’ exclaimed Caitlyn.
‘Do you want to turn my offer of expert fishing tuition down then?’ smiling at her with a silly grin.
She smiled sheepishly back at him. ‘No I guess I can’t say no to such a generous offer.’
‘Good. That’s settled.’ said Thomas. He took his wallet out of his pocket. ‘Here’s fifty dollars for the fishing gear, and I’ll pick you and my fishing gear up at seven thirty tomorrow. But don’t go spending that fifty dollars.’
Caitlyn frowned ‘Why not?’
‘Because after tomorrow, when you have such fun fishing, you’re going to beg me to let you buy your gear back.’
‘Oh you think so do you?’
‘I know so. Anyway I’ve got to go. See you tomorrow.’
‘Bye then’ Caitlyn replied.
She watched him saunter back to his car casually. Once he was in his car and pulling away he waved one last time. When his car was out of sight, she sat down again. She felt almost surreal. Half an hour ago, she was merely having a garage sale, and now she had been asked fishing by one of the most attractive men she’d ever met. Caitlyn mused over the concept for a few minutes before she decided to pack up for the day.
Luckily all the furniture had sold so she didn’t have to drag anything heavy back inside. She grabbed a small packing box, and packed up the remaining small things on the table. Caitlyn decided she would donate the remaining items to an op shop.
After she’d packed away, she grabbed her bike and went around collecting the signs from the street corners, before heading home and starting some classroom preparation for the following week. She was feeling weary and had been planning to relax for the afternoon and do her work tomorrow, but now that she had plans for tomorrow morning, she didn’t want to risk leaving it til the last minute in the afternoon.