The cool, salty air blowing in the open window of my truck made a nice contrast to the warmth of the sun streaming through the windshield. I held my entrance permit out to the park ranger in the booth at the entrance to the Assateague Island national park and she nodded, smiled and waved me on. It was possible that she recognized me, I thought. I came down here to commune with the surf breaking on the beach and the wildlife whenever I needed to think about things, and lately I had been here a lot.
As I approached the off-road vehicle entrance, I could feel some of the tension from the last week draining away already. I smiled to myself as I slowed down, shifted into four wheel drive and felt the front wheels bite into the soft sand of the access road. I could see the glimmer of the ocean as I crested the dune that the road led over. I was anticipating driving down the beach for a while and then finding an isolated place to sit, relax and watch the surf and the wild ponies for a while.
I wouldn't have noticed the blue Suburban if it wasn't for the odd angle it was sitting at in the sand. Preoccupied with my thoughts as I was, I wouldn't have given it a second glance except for the voluptuous readhead sliding out of the driver's seat. From the way her truck was sitting low in the sand, it was pretty well stuck, but she didn't seem to be upset as she got out to survey the situation.
I could see a kind of half smile flit across her soft looking lips and light up her blue eyes with a mischevious glint even as I closed the distance between us. I admired her red hair and pale, smooth skin decorated with sprays of freckles as I pulled up.
"Hi", I said "having trouble?" with my usual fine grasp of the obvious.
She took pity on me though, and her smile widened and the sparkle in her eyes increased as she said "Yes, I miscalculated how soft the sand was, and when I slowed down to look at the ocean, the truck sunk."
I told her that it was a common occurence and that I could probably give her truck a pull if she wanted. "That would be great", she said. "I kind of skipped the part about bringing the tow strap and stuff."
"Ranger Rick would be very upset with you", I joked with her. "He'll turn you over his knee."
She said, "Hmmm, maybe I'll turn myself in, then...unless you want to fill in for him?"
I smiled back at her, swallowing a sudden lump in my throat and told her "Let's get your truck out first and then we'll discuss your punishment."
I dragged a heavy tow strap out of the back of my truck and hooked it to my trailer hitch while she did the same on her truck. We agreed on some signals to communicate with each other and then I got in my truck and pulled the tow strap tight. She accelerated her truck in reverse while I floored my truck and began to pull her backwards. Her truck inched out at first and then began to move up onto the harder sand further away from the water under its' own power.
We unhooked the tow strap and I bundled it up and threw it in the back of my truck.
"Well, my truck's unstuck, thanks to you", she said, "do you think you'll have to report me to the ranger?"
I said, "Let's sit in my truck and talk about it....I tend to be more lenient when I'm relaxing and watching the waves".
As we settled in the front seat of my truck, I looked over at her and she gave me a smile that made her eyes light up. I grinned back at her and in some sort of unspoken communication we leaned in toward each other and kissed softly. I felt a rush from my lips through my entire body as our lips touched and a surge of disappointment as they parted.
"Wow, that was nice", I said, "was that my thanks for rescuing you?"
"No", she said, "you kissed me that time. This time I'll kiss you", then she leaned in and did.
