Big Salmon Lake on my mind

The cleaning of the brambles never came, but he didn't mind too much. He'd intended to say 'no' anyway, so he didn't push the matter, though he wouldn't have resisted had she actually gone to pluck them out.

Eljay wasn't so sure about her words, no matter how hard she tried to convince him and no matter how convincing her words actually sorta sounded. "I've tried fish," he squished in really quick between things Anne said. He actually liked fishing, because it required a degree of patience that he had. It was one of few hunting things he was actually really good at.

He froze when Anne mentioned that no one would mess with him because he looked plenty tough. He didn't feel very tough. Would anyone try to mess with him? Why? Eljay looked worried suddenly as he asked, "Why... Who'd want to mess with others?" He'd thought the outside world was scary because it was unknown, but he didn't know that it was genuinely dangerous to boot.

They talked for another while before eventually Anne went her own way and so did Eljay.