They told Dylan about Jennie. He was very eager to see her so much that they went there before night falls. They waited till she came out and met them. Rickie and Nazi excused them to have their privacy, but they were not far. They could hear some of their discussions.
“My father betrothed me to a guy from a well-to-do family so he doesn’t want me to be going out meanwhile the marriage is in few weeks”
Dylan, not just him alone, his two brothers that were with him there too were heartbroken and so will their mother and Mata be when they hear of it. The two younger boys drew closer. They ought to contribute on this.
“Are you going to marry him?” Dylan asked anxiously.
“I don’t know” she responded in a helplessly to show that the decision is not hers to make.
“Do you love him?”
“I despise him. Sincerely I detest everything concerning him”
“How do you go about it?”
“I will not stay in that house till that day”
“Do you have a place….? Or, you can come to our place”
“Jennie!” Somebody called from home. That was her mother’s voice.
“You have to be going, my mother is calling me” She turned immediately to run home.
“Should we come tomorrow?” Dylan asked hurriedly.
“But be careful”
“Don’t bother about us. We are fine”
They returned home. Dylan kept recalling what Jennie told him. He felt bad and restless. He was nervous about it. Everyday he goes to their usual spot to meet her hoping to hear a different story but all was same.
0ne evening, before market closure Dylan strolled down the bank to see how fishing was still going. He was startled at what he saw. Men caught not just big finishes but other marine creatures he have never seen. He knows how much they could make from those things. If they should catch that twice a week before it gets three months they will be on the list of wealthy men in the community.
“Where did you catch these?” Dylan asked the Fishermen. Those were not his friends. He doesn’t know what prompted him to go to them.
“There’s no need trying to find out”
Dylan expected this.
“It is not where lazy people can go. It’s half a week journey” Another guy who wanted to piss Dylan off said. Anyway, both off them were rude. He shouldn’t spend more time with them to avoid fighting. He turned to go.
“Run from fishing and from every other thing!”
Mata woke in the middle of the night and ran outside to throw up. After which he returned to the room panting like one who is drawn from an ocean. Nazi and Rickie woke up and demanded to know what was the matter.
“I had a dream, a very terrible one. In it I was alone in an empty room tied up both hands and legs. I was thinking of how to get out then suddenly a very fat ugly man without legs appeared with a big bowl full of disgusting creatures like maggots, snails, worms, millipede, centipedes and other ones I don’t know. He was eating them like noodles. Even without legs he was still moving gradually towards me. He was definitely going to force me to eat them. I tried to loosen up and flee before he gets close but I was weak and helpless. When he got close, just as I expected he forced me to eat with him trying to pour them in my mouth by himself. I kept struggling with him until I woke up”
There was goose pimples on everyone who was listening including the teller. Nazi's face was as if he’s seeing those things already.
“It is the fear the experience in the woods had put in you that have made you have such a terrible dream” Nazi said.
“I doubt you. What about me? The one I had. Wasn’t mine worse? So what then was the caused if mine?”
“Yours is different”
“It is not. They mean something we are yet to find out. Something not so good” before they sleep back they said prayers and slept.
Dylan and his brothers kept seeing Jennie. Mata goes with them too. He is now strong to do anything, but they were unlucky this last time. As they were having a secrecy with Jennie there was a sudden chase which made everyone scatter into different directions but Dylan being their target they all went after him. And they caught him and dragged him down to Jennie’s house.