Sally, Part 39
Once again, Stacey found himself wanting to believe and believe in Mattias. He sounded so genuine and kind. It took effort for Stacey to shrug off this encouraging statement and remember that Mattias was lying, and that he'd probably never see the ocean again. This only made him feel worse though. He never said goodbye, and here on land was the last place he wanted to be buried. All the while though, his hands kept up their pace. After working for demanding captains, Stacey had learned to separate his hands from his thoughts and picking fruit was a easy enough that the skill transferred.
Mattias was soon up in the tree as well. After masts and ropes, Syrin and Mattias easily found places to grip and scaled the tree without trouble. Stacey considered climbing up as well, but worried that he'd over-estimate the strength of a branch and come tumbling down.
Syrin dropped out of the tree just as Stacey finished filling his sack. "Find enough?" Syrin's eyes were sincere.
"Yeah. Just finished."
"Good." Syrin hung his sack from a branch, held the bottom of his shirt up to make a makeshift basket, collected several cherries, and sat at the trunk of the tree. Stacey just stood and watched him do this. Syrin's sudden kindness had made him a little nervous. In the past he'd been little else but cold, and Stacey wasn't sure what he was supposed to do in this situation. "Well?"
Stacey wasn't sure what Syrin was asking, and must have shown it, because Syrin continued. "I'm afraid this is dinner for the day. I wasn't sure if there'd be enough cherries for it, but there are. So, I recommend handing your sack somewhere and eating as much as you can. We have a long night ahead of us."
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