Seeded: Day 8

Word Count: 48,045

Summary of Events:

Brandt spent part of Saturday piloting his dad's boat around the lake with various family members riding the tube behind, but eventually he and his dad had another spat and he went to sit on Uncle Maynard's boat, which was hiding in quieter waters so that Brandt's grandparents could fish. On Sunday after church Lark and Ariel discussed Brandt and the Remingtons in general, as Ariel's parents told Ariel that the Remingtons had once attended their church, but had left about twenty years ago…

Excerpt of the Day:

“He wasn’t really anything like what I expected, though,” Ariel said. “Like, I’d always heard that he was an entitled jerk.”

“Me too,” Lark said. “But he was actually really nice.”

“Yeah,” Ariel said. “And he was really tall.”

“Not necessarily too tall,” Lark replied. “I mean, yeah, I had to look up to make eye contact with him, but I know taller people.”

“Well, but I didn’t expect him to be that tall,” Ariel said. “I mean, I think Remington is an English surname, not a Dutch one.”

“Well, maybe his mom’s family is Dutch,” Lark said.

“Yeah, I guess that might be,” Ariel said. “I don’t think his mom lives around here anymore.”
“He didn’t mention his mom at all when I talked to him,” Lark said. “He didn’t really actually talk about his family in general.”

Ariel nodded. “He certainly did seem talkative, though.”

“Somewhat, yeah,” Lark replied. “I also feel like he latched onto me.”

“Latched onto you?” Ariel asked.

“Yeah,” Lark replied. “I think it was just the fact that he and I had spoken before the game, so when we ended up on the same team I was the only person he ‘knew’, so he kind of hung close to me, kind of like VBS kids do sometimes.”

“Hm,” Ariel said. “I wouldn’t have expected him to be insecure.”

“I don’t know if it was,” Lark said. “Maybe it was.”

“I would’ve thought that he would’ve been somewhat rowdy too,” Ariel said. “I mean, he got a bit intense in the volleyball game, but otherwise he was actually rather quiet.”

Lark nodded. “I’ve heard a lot about the Remingtons over the years, and he didn’t really match any of it.”

“No, not really,” Ariel agreed. “It’s kind of interesting. I wonder where all the people who told us about the Remingtons got their information from.”

“Unless maybe that was what his dad and uncles were like at his age, so people are presuming that he’s going to be the same, when he isn’t,” Lark said.

“Maybe, yeah,” Ariel agreed. “Maybe we’ll have to ask Brandon about him.”

“What, and make Brandon think we have a crush on him?” Lark asked.

“Well, it’s not like he’s ugly,” Ariel said.

“He’s not a Christian, though,” Lark said.

“I guess that’s true,” Ariel said. “But you can’t deny that he does look nice, right?”

“Like you said, he’s not ugly,” Lark replied. “But the more important thing is that he’s not a Christian.”

“That’s kind of surprising,” Ariel said. “Considering that he’s such good friends with Brandon.”
“I don’t think he lets Brandon talk about Christianity with him,” Lark said. “He told me that he’s perfectly fine with religious people so long as they don’t try to proselytise him.”

“Did he really use proselytise?” Ariel asked.

“No,” Lark replied. “I’m paraphrasing.”

“But Brandon’s not the sort of guy I would think would be okay with being limited like that,” Ariel said. “Nor would he really be the sort to do a long, dragged out version of friendship evangelism.”

“No,” Lark agreed. “But maybe he’s still doing something positive in Brandt’s life.”