Chance is a wonderful thing. Just like that it makes things happen and you find yourself heading off in a completely unexpected direction.
I had two weeks holidays coming and I hadn't had any intention of going anywhere. I was just going to stay at home, get a few odd jobs done around the place, nothing important.
Then a mate of mine broke his leg. Actually, he broke both legs. He was having a parkour race with another mate of his. Jumped a fence intending to land on a roof and found out that the building he was going to land on had been pulled down the previous day. An unexpected drop of about fifteen feet cost him the race and broke both his ankles.
How does that affect me, you're wondering? Well Jamie had a holiday booked and paid for, and as it was starting the next day there was no way to cancel and get his money back. Knowing I was starting my leave he gave me the holiday for a token amount. So there I was, heading up to a boarding house at a very nice lake to enjoy a couple of weeks of fishing, hiking and swimming.
I rolled up to the boarding house, and it was a very nice place. Decent rooms, decent beds, and best of all, a decent cook. There were a number of other guests there, but not many, being the off season. Everyone seemed eager to be out and about and willing to enjoy themselves.
Except one. There's always one, isn't there. This one was a teenage girl. Young woman, actually, as I'd give her age as eighteen, pushing nineteen. She was staying there with her mother, who seemed to be a bit of a fitness fanatic. The mother would be up early, eager to go swimming, hiking, find a game of tennis, whatever, as long as it kept her busy. And away from her daughter, I suspect.
Dianne, the daughter, didn't want to come on the holiday. The weather was either too hot or too cold. It was too dry or it was raining. There were mosquitos and other bugs. The lake was too cold for swimming. The hills were too steep for hiking. There were bears and snakes in the woods, and she wouldn't be surprised if they ran into a pack of wolves.
You name it, and the little brat had a complaint about it. She got real snarky with me at one stage. We were having dinner, and a very nice meal it was, but Dianne was still bitching about it. Eventually I suggested that if she was so dissatisfied with everything she should speak to God about it, Him being the man in charge. I even offered to introduce her to him personally if she didn't shut up for a while. Like I said, she got real snarky.
The next day I was up before dawn to do some early morning fishing. I came back for a late breakfast and then headed up to my room to change, as I had intended going on a hike. While I was changing I couldn't help getting the impression that something was different. Then it struck me.
My wallet was missing.
I never mentioned my job, did I? I work for a company that makes electrical gizmos and one of the gizmos we make are little tracking devices. And when I say little, I mean little. They're tiny little things that just give out an impulse when you query them. Only good for about fifty to a hundred feet, but damned useful if you want to find something easily. We're allowed to have some of these gizmos to take home and test and help find uses for them.
I have one super-glued to the TV remote, another on my car-keys and another in my wallet. I have a seeker attached to my keys and one I just keep in the car. I picked up the one attached to the keys, activated it and checked where it was pointing.
Down the hall about two rooms, on the opposite side of the hall to my room. Now, in theory, I suppose I should have rung up the police, explained the situation and had them come and take a statement and get a warrant or whatever and eventually they'd go in and recover my wallet.
Alternatively I could try the handle, find it unlocked and walk in, fuming.
Sitting on the bed is pretty little Dianne, in her undies and with my wallet next to her and the contents spread across her bed, barring the cash that she had in her hand, counting.
She jumped to her feet with a squeal of shock when I so rudely barged in, snatching up a dress to try to cover the charms that were spilling over the bra.
"My wallet, I believe?" I said, quite calmly, oddly enough, because I was seething. The little brat was really asking for trouble, and I was longing to give it to her.
Dianne totally ignored the wallet and what I'd said. She just started yelling at me. This was her room. How dare I barge in like that. She'd have me arrested. Get out immediately.
She was standing there, almost dancing up and down while yelling at me, when her mother came in to see what the hell was going on. She frowned to see me standing there with Dianne clad only in her undies, gave me a very cold look and demanded I explain myself.
I pointed to the wallet and money scattered on the bed.
"My wallet and things. Your sweet little daughter snuck into my room while I was out and helped herself."
Dianne's mother looked at the wallet on the bed, saw the guilty look on Dianne's face and looked as though she was going to explode.
"Give it back, now," she said, fury plain in her voice.
Red-faced, Dianne dropped the dress she'd been clutching to her and hurriedly scrabbled the wallet and contents together and handed them to me. I swiftly sorted the things out and slipped them into my pocket.
"What do you want to do about it?" asked Dianne's mother, a bleak tone in her voice. If I wanted to be nasty, Dianne could be in severe trouble and she knew it. Dianne was starting to realise it too, as she suddenly looked distinctly nervous.
