The other half the story....

Ok, so I didn't stay away from dating in high school and beyond simply because I was wrapped up in what I was doing. I grew up in a small town, population at last census was about 840, and I can trace my blood relations to about three quarters of the town, well, at least half anyways.

Probably one of the only real times I tried to date, it went all wrong. It was the end of summer, just after graduation and right before I left for college. I'd been busy working the fish processing plant, having been promoted to fish buyer, so I ran hoist, sorted fish, kept 'em on ice until they were ready to be cleaned and into the deep freeze.

Most of the summer I was kept busy, or kept myself busy, volunteering for every bit of hours I could get a hold of to sock a little more money away for school. So, nearly all summer long I clocked between 80 and 100 hours per week. I very often spent the majority of my day on the dock, with an occasional break to grab a snack.

At the shore end of the dock there was a store that some family members owned, but not just family worked there. All summer long when I'd stop in there to get a snack and a Mt. Dew to keep me going until next break I noticed someone new working, not just new to the store but new in town.

I'd make polite but small conversation with her, but wouldn't stay long, knowing full well the reek of fish permeated my clothes and followed me everywhere. This was very often the only way my mother knew I'd been home sometime in the night, since I was gone before they'd get up and back long after they'd gone to bed.

Anyways, summer was wrapping up, I was worked out of the schedule in preparation of me leaving to school within a week. I'd found out that this new girl, JS, was wrapping up to leave for school as well.

Figured it was worth a shot, so I'd asked her out to dinner which she agreed to the evening of both our last day's of work. I actually managed to smell halfway clean, having been kept out of the really dirty jobs for my last day, so I met her at the store when both our shifts were up.

I met up with her and walked her home, making small talk about what each of us was going to be doing in the coming weeks. Finally got around to asking where she was staying, which was with her father, but she didn't give his name, I guess she figured I knew who he was.

We get to an all too familiar drive way, and she announces that this is her dad's place, sure enough, it's my uncle and I got this sinking feeling that I've been flirting and hitting on my cousin all summer long. I dropped her off, got cleaned up and came up for dinner anyways but that sort of clinched it for me. I fear that any woman I start to date I'll come to find out I'm related to her in some way.

Small towns are great to grow up in, as long as you aren't related to the whole dang town.