This has taken me longer to write than I thought, mainly because it kept getting longer. Hope you like. All participants over eighteen (well over in one case!)
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I was stood in front of the little dustcart, watching some of the participants of the 'walk for life' as they walked around. The 'walk for life' was a twenty-four hour charity thing and the council had donated the use of the little dustcart to keep the site tidy without charge to provide support. Several of us had volunteered to crew it throughout the twenty-four hours, also free of charge. Bill and I had just taken over for the last eight-hour shift. The idea of the walk was to have at least one person walking at all times throughout the whole twenty-four hours. According to the pair we had not long relieved the night had been full of fun and frolics as people tried to stay awake, to keep others awake. Now it was early morning and things were much quieter, only two people determinedly marching around. Bill had nipped off to Maccies to get us some breakfast as the smell of bacon from the various tents was making the pair of us ravenous. People who had managed to get some sleep were waking and taking over from the heroes of the small hours. I poured myself a coffee from the flask and sipped it, smiling at a couple of people who walked past. A girl of no more than twenty years old came up and dropped a pair of black sacks onto the pile at the rear of the truck.
"Can I have some replacements?" She asked, coming up to me.
"Sure." I replied, opening the cab door and grabbing a handful of fresh bags. I handed them over and caught her looking at me somewhat intently. At first I was a little put out by this until I looked closer at her and realised her face was familiar.
"Do I know you?" I asked as she took the refuse sacks from me.
"You've seen me, but you don't know me, no." She said, cryptically.
"You a friend of my niece then? She's about your age."
"I don't think so." She grinned enigmatically.
"Oh come on, make an old man happy. Exactly where have I seen you?" I smiled.
The girl smiled back.
"All right then. You emptied the bins in Bastogne Close for a few years?"
"I've done most of the closes in this town at one time or another, but yes, until about three years ago I drove the dustcart that did Bastogne Close." She was giving me an amused look, waiting for the recognition she was sure would come, a sparkle in her green eyes. And then it hit me. "You were one of my four girlfriends!" Four schoolgirls had always waved at the RCV when we saw them.
"What!!?" She laughed.
"The rest of the crew always called the four of you my girlfriends, because you all seemed to wave to me whenever school was out and we were collecting, that started about six or seven years back."
"Well, I don't know exactly why the other three copied me waving," She smiled, "But I liked to see you smile when you waved back."
I was actually quite surprised by her reply: It had been a joke between the crew, four schoolgirls waving at someone old enough to be their father. Then I remembered something else.
"You were the one who gave me the Christmas cards; the blondish one who could actually roller-skate. The other three were very wobbly."
"Oh my god, you were looking at us after all!" She laughed, shaking out her now properly blonde hair. "And what were you thinking about while you looked at us; something bad?" She was teasing now.
"If I remember, I was thinking 'why are these girls waving to me?'" I said and then decided I was allowed some teasing in return. "And 'that one who actually can skate is developing a nice looking bottom'."
I smirked as she reddened slightly.
"I'd better get back." She said, trying to cover her embarrassment as she turned and walked away.
"I see I was right!" I called out to her retreating back. She stopped, looked over her shoulder, grinned, patted her backside and then carried on, swaying her hips exaggeratedly. I laughed and gave her a wave as she ducked inside one of the tents.
Bill came up beside me and handed me the bag with my breakfast in it.
"What's going on? I leave for a couple of minutes and you suddenly start chatting up attractive young women."
"It's not like that Bill," I grinned, "In fact it's better. You remember 'the four girlfriends'?" He nodded slowly. "She was the cute one who started the waving!" I laughed.
"Huh! I don't believe you."
"Ask her yourself." I shrugged.
"What's her name then?" He asked grumpily.
"I didn't ask." I shook my head.
"Pillock!" He clipped me around the back of the head. "You still can't get it right can you?"
"Never could, never will." I grinned and took out my breakfast.
"Looks like you'll get another chance." Bill nudged me and pointed: The girl was coming back over to where we stood. As she got closer Bill called out: "Hey sweetie! You don't want to bother with him," He jerked his thumb in my direction, "He's gay, you know?" Bill was always pulling my leg about my lack of success with women, saying I must give off the wrong vibes.
"I bloody well am not!" I said through a mouthful of breakfast.
"I don't think so." The girl smiled. "I'll prove it."
"How?" Bill asked.
"Like this!" With a jerk she lifted her jumper and momentarily flashed her naked breasts at us. Bill and I both stared open-mouthed in shock. "See, same reaction from both of you; if he's gay, so are you!" She laughed, we joined in. "Anyway, I was wondering when you were going to start chucking that rubbish away, we've got a broken chair we want to get rid of."
"We were going to leave it until everyone seemed to be awake; it makes a lot of noise. Just drop the chair with the rest and we'll throw it on." I said.
"I remember the noise. And I was sort of hoping I could sling it into the back myself, I always wanted to try that." She gave us a huge grin.
"That's okay with me, but it's a strange thing for a girl to want to do."
"Maybe I'm not like other girls." She said shyly.
"No, I don't think you are." I smiled. "I'm Dave, this scruffy git is Bill." I held out my hand.
"Emma." She said, shaking my proffered hand in amusement. "I'll bring the chair over when I hear you start the truck." With that she turned away again. Part way back to her tent she twisted back around. "After over six years my fantasy guy has a name at last." She called before disappearing into the tent again.
Bill and I looked at each other astounded.
"Did she just say what I think she said?" I asked Bill.
"She did," He said, "And I don't believe it, it was a joke, not reality." He shook his head slowly. "I just can't believe it."
"What? That I'm an attractive girl's secret crush?"
"No. That she can find her way about without her guide dog." He laughed.
"Git!"
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We threw the collected sacks of the night into the dustcart about an hour later. Emma came over and she threw the broken chair in and I let her press the button that ran the back. She seemed remarkably pleased with such a simple act. After that Bill and I settled back to watch the event for a while. Now there were more people awake and walking it was mildly diverting. The walkers thinned out again and then the organisers blew a whistle. Suddenly the course was packed again, and with all the walkers in fancy dress, mostly as some sort of medical staff. I looked at Bill and he looked at me. We both just shrugged, neither of us had any idea what was happening. Emma walked around past us as one of the sexiest nurses I'd ever seen. On an impulse I fell in step beside her.
"Hi! What's the deal with the whistle and the dressing up?" I asked.
"Hello again Dave." She gave me a sweet smile. "It's a friendly competition to make things more interesting. At certain times they blow the whistle and we all come out in the appropriate costume. They award points for originality, authenticity and so on, to each entered group. We're doing quite well."
"So you're not really a nurse then?" I asked with a grin.
"Maybe I am?" Emma teased again, a sparkle in her eyes. "Why?"
"Well, I've a terrible pain in all the diodes down my left hand side." I smiled, putting my hand on the faux injury.
"Are you in BUPA? I don't do NHS work." She laughed.
"Just the RAC." I grinned. I had done a complete circuit with her, so I stopped by the truck again. "Thanks for the info."
"No prob. Pity you're not covered." She waved and went on. "Nice 'Hitch Hikers' reference by the way." She called out.
"What the hell was that about Dave?" Bill asked, stepping up beside me.
"I think I was flirting."
"You? Flirting? With a real girl?" He shook his head.
"That's what it seemed like. It's been a while, so I can't be sure." I grinned.
"Huh! As if the day isn't weird enough already, now you're getting delusional. It must be getting up so early on a Sunday."
---
And so it went for the rest of the event, sarky comments and brief periods of keeping the field tidy. I missed one of the fancy dress sections when I went to the nearest shop to get a snack but I caught the final one. The theme seemed to be something like 'Law and Order'; there were cops and robbers, prisoners, a wild west sheriff, some guy in a suit claiming he was an embezzler, even a couple of superheroes. This time Emma was a policewoman. It didn't look like a costume, more like the real thing. I wondered if it might be hers. As I fell in beside her again she greeted me with a grin.
"Hi Dave. What are you meant to be?" She asked.
"I'm a council driver who breaks all sorts of traffic laws." I smiled back.
"Really?" She said raising her eyebrows. "In that case...." She tailed off.
I felt something metallic encircle my wrist and when I looked down I saw that she had handcuffed me to herself.
"I hope you've got the key for those." I half joked.
"Of course I have."
"You really a member of the constabulary then? The uniform looks real."
"The uniform is: I'm not. It was my mothers, she was with the police."
"It looks good on you anyway Emma."
"It's a bit tight around my bust and my bottom." She said wriggling a little.
