A box of ocarinas

As Nettie’s fourteenth birthday approached, Jeb remembered the box of ocarinas.
Her penny whistle’s plaintive notes or a harmonica tune often accompanied his work assembling her mother’s tomato canning equipment, though Nettie remained invisible.
“I swear, that girl could get notes from a turnip,” Daphne said one day. “She even plays old soda bottles.”
“Hmm…” Jeb mused. “Mr. Cates has some old instruments in his attic. He called one a sweet potato, and there’s an egg-shaped Chinese ‘xun.’ May I bring them to her?”
Daphne gave him a long look. “Why, Jeb Thompson, are you sweet on my daughter?”

~~~

Flash fiction inspired by Carrot Ranch and based on characters in the “Hull Crossing Chronicles” series.