Strange Yarns

The Baby Blue Canoe

"What's your name?" She asked.

"Jonny." the boy said.

"My best friend's name is Jonny!"

"Well, he's got a great name! He must be a great guy! Maybe you'll have two best friend's named Jonny?" He thought this was really funny. Margot raised an eyebrow, but then laughed for real this time.

"What's your name? And don't say Jonny."

Okay! He's funny and cute.

"Margot, but all my friends call me GoGo."

He leaned back and laughed like it was the most amusing thing he'd ever heard. This made Margot laugh too.

This Jonny laughed at strange moments, like laughing at the wrong parts in a summer comedy. Missing the joke, but finding something else humorous as if he knew something no one else did. Margot thought that was pretty endearing.

"You're very pretty, GoGo."

Margot could feel her cheeks turn as red as her hair, "Thank you?"

"You're welcome." The boy said, "So, you wanna come or what?"

Margot wasn't sure. She liked this Jonny. He was a little weird, but the other Jonny was a little weird too. Jonny from home wasn't exactly the most popular dream boat at school and his unique brand of humour was a little off kilter as well. Jonny from home also had a crooked smile. In fact Jonny in the canoe almost looked like a thinner version of her friend from home. Maybe they were long lost cousins or something. Or maybe it was a trick of the light.

Margot had almost agreed, but the sound of water lapping on the dock reminded her of the lake. The lake that had secrets. She had a strange thought – The lake knows my secrets too. I've been on this dock all summer – it knows me.

"Hey, you okay? You don't have to come if you don't want to... I just thought because you were sitting alone that..." Jonny trailed off.

"I'll come!"

Even through the sun's glare she could see Jonny beam.

"But I should ask my mom first." She turned back to the cottage, nestled in the shade. Margot could barely see it, her vision bleached from an afternoon without sunglasses.

"Okay, GoGo. Ask your mom. I'll wait here. Get ready to play and eat. It'll be great." He dipped his paddle into the water and then held it above his head letting the stream roll onto his t-shirt turban.

"That's a pretty creative way to stay cool." Margot said.

"I like to stay wet." The blue eyed boy laughed, "Can't dry out like a piece of driftwood can I?"

Definitely a townie!

She still wasn't sure that she should get in a canoe with a stranger. But he really didn't feel like a stranger at all. But then again, why had the other kids been packed into boats and he alone? She thought that maybe he was just some scrawny tag along who could up his social cred by showing up with a girl. Maybe he was a bit of an outcast. She could relate to that. Dewar, Kat, and Jonny were outcasts too. Together they were family. She wondered if her hesitation was not because of the boy... but because of the lake.

She'd hadn't put a toe into it yet and Margot decided she was going to keep it that way. She remembered that her mom was gone, off partying with some other adults at some other cottage. Margot would just walk into the house and pretend her mother wouldn't let her go. It would be a little deception, one that would save her from the lake.