"You show me ze canoe, ya?" Bibi stood on Roderick's front porch, wearing a Swedishy shirt, blue shorts and sandals. Her hair was neatly braided, and she had inserted little tiny wildflowers over her left ear. Roderick wondered where the wildflowers came from; likely from Mrs. Podgrass's rock garden. He didn't think Mrs. Podgrass would like having her wildflowers picked.
Neverthless, he wasn't about to say anything. Roderick was more than pleased to do something with Bibi that morning; it was his day off at the boathouse, and he had a free day. Molly was busy practicing -- she has a recital coming up; Megan was at the shooting range; Natasha was meditating or pouting or something. Roderick's ardor to spend time with Bibi was only slightly dampened by the knowledge that her participation would be vith ze clothes. After all, thought Roderick, she really is an attractive girl even when fully dressed.
They walked together to the boathouse. Roderick pointed out various landmarks around town: Dorabella's Bookstore, the Cafe Venice, Zeppelin Drugs. Bibi blushed, giggled and covered her mouth at the word "Zeppelin". Roderick wasn't sure what that was all about.
Bibi wasn't saying. "What does 'Zeppelin' mean to you?", he asked, but she just giggled and blushed some more.
"Oh..", she said, trying to restrain herself. "You know..um.." and she burst out laughing. Roderick figured that "Zeppelin" sounds like something dirty in Swedish, and made a mental note to look it up in his Swedish-English dictionary at home.
Mr. Armstrong was working alone at the boathouse; Tuesdays are a slow day, even in July. Roderick gets to use a canoe for free when he's not working, and Mr. Armstrong let him take one of the nicest canoes, a sleek red two-seater. They put the canoe in the water; Roderick stepped into the stern and held the canoe fast while Bibi stepped into the stern.
They paddled away from the dock. Bibi wasn't an experienced paddler, so Roderick did all of the paddling from the stern. Skillfully, he steered the canoe toward the middle of Mill Pond.
All of the canoes at the boathouse are made of wood and canvas, and they are all old but in excellent condition. The citizens of Beauneville like to keep things a long time, forever if possible; they'd rather care for things, maintain them or fix them than buy new stuff. Many years ago, more years than anyone can remember, some civic-minded person built the boathouse and bought the canoes; and since the local citizenry figure they cannot count on another "angel" to buy more canoes, they'd best keep them in good repair. And so, they do.
"Ve go there, ja?" Bibi pointed to Wickle's Island. Roderick gladly steered to the secret island, which isn't really secret but it's fun to think of it as such. Anyway, on a slow day on Mill Pond, it might as well be secret because they had the island to themselves.
They debarked at a small cove. Roderick pulled the canoe up on the gravel beach, and they walked inland to a small clearing, where Bibi sat on a convenient stump and rummaged around in her bag. Roderick sat on a nearby stump and wondered why there were stumps on the island, since "stumps" imply "cut down trees", and he was under the impression that forestry operations had ceased years ago. He made a mental note to check his copy of the most recent Yearbook of Forestry Operations in Washington County at home.
"Ve have peeknic, ya?" said Bibi. She offered Roderick a plate of what looked like cured fish, a pancakey thing with red jam and a glass of clear liquid. For a moment, Roderick felt slightly miffed about having leftovers for lunch -- he much prefers a freshly made lunch, like Mrs. Smith makes -- but the fish was tasty, the pancakey thing was good when slathered with red jam, and Bibi was so stunningly gorgeous in her Swedishy shirt and short blue shorts that he smiled and thanked her for the wonderful peeknic.
The clear liquid, though, he wasn't sure about -- he wanted to dump it on the ground, but was concerned it might harm the arctostaphylos uva-ursa that grows wild everywhere on the island. Bibi noticed his hesitation, and took the glass from his hand. "Ve trink ze Aquafit like zis!", she said, tossed down the contents of the glass in a single gulp, put her arm around Roderick and curled up catlike with her head on his lap.
And so they remained for quite some time, uninterrupted except for the occasional bluefly. Towards dusk, the blueflies gather strength, making Wickle's Island quite uninhabitable by anyone sans insect repellant towards dark. In any case, the boathouse closes at sundown, so Roderick paddled quickly across the pond, helped Bibi onto the dock, pulled the canoe from the water and stowed it in the boathouse.
They walked home. By now, it was quite dark outside. Roderick invited Bibi inside, and they scrounged some dinner from the fridge -- Mr. and Mrs. Smith were out at the Red Trolley. After eating, they sat in the living room and chatted about stuff. That night, Bibi slept over in the guest room.
