Part of my big series, the characters will return as background ones.
Nothing nasty just a couple of selfish people push out a main character.
Another birthday approaches I will soon be twenty four. I live in a small flat over the shop. I work as a repair man with electronics, I fix HiFis TVs and the like. I also suffer from severe acne scarring on my back, myopia, and I cannot lose weight to save my life. I am a disaster. The only good point is that I am not losing my hair, and not likely to.
I hate birthdays, I have few friends, and never had a girlfriend, I hate my life. I join clubs no one wants to talk to Mr. Spotty, I leave.
I do have hobbies, I love photography, I often drive out to the countryside to take landscapes, I walk miles so why I am still tubby.
I blew most of my spare income on a nice car, most is normally ploughed back into business. I treated myself to an oldish Subaru Forester, a bit thirsty but great for getting around. This bank holiday weekend I have decided it will be spent in North Wales, and I will take my tent, I have stretched it to a whole week with some annual holiday days.
I stop for my dinner at Welshpool, I continue up to Lake Vyrnwy and take quite a few pictures. It is beautiful there. I have a full frame digital SLR, and a medium format film camera I bought cheap off EBay. I finish up at Bala for the night, not a bad area, quiet, middle of nowhere.
I set my tent up in a quiet corner, about twenty foot from a similar sized tent, I am not sure what to do, so I sit in my tent reading a novel by an ex SAS soldier, when I hear a lot of shouting. I look outside and there are two girls and a lad arguing. All about my age. One of the girls is very attractive and appears to be
siding with the lad, the other girl, fat, glasses, a bit plain, was very upset. The other two go into the their tent leaving the fat girl on her own.
I decide to see if everything is OK. "Everything OK?"
She replied through teary eyes. "No Sarah pulled that lad and I have been kicked out of the tent."
"Oh that's nasty."
She brushed her hair away from her face, she had lovely dark brown hair, halfway down her back. "I don't know what to do."
I thought quick, "Do you want any help?"
"I don't know. I'm stuck."
It was about half seven so thought, "Have you eaten yet?"
"Not yet."
"Want to get something?"
"I don't know you."
"My names Darren."
"Oh Hi Darren, I'm Carol."
"Ok Carol, are you hungry?"
"Yes."
"Want to try in the village?"
"Sounds good to me."
I still had not eaten, I was going to about eight. But needs must. I zipped up my tent, opened the car, and offered the door to Carol. She climbed in, the suspension compressed a bit, mid to high teens I guessed, a bit heavier than me. She smiled, and she brightened the inside of the car.
We stopped at a pub, it looked moderately busy, and catering for tourists. Some of the locals do not like tourists, but most welcome them. We both ordered Lamb (well it is Wales) and a pint of beer each. I really enjoyed the meal, the company was excellent.
"So where do live Carol? You sound like you are local to me."
"Oh I live in Angbury."
"The Fort of Ang."
"Oh, I have seen the ruins."
"I am from there too. Not a bad town."
"So what do you do then Darren, when not rescuing damsels in distress."
"I repair electronics, like TVs, HiFis, video cameras, games consoles and the like."
"Is it difficult?"
"Yes I needed decent sciences and an apprentice."
"Wow, what is the most difficult?"
"Well the current kit is full of lead free solder, terrible stuff."
"Why?"
"It fractures, and grows whiskers."
"Like a moustache?"
"Not really, but no actually it is."
She laughs.
"It crystallises, they grow out from joints, touch another line and shorts out, instant scrap."
"Ow, and what about the fractures."
"Chips come loose, devices fail, you need to remove and refit them."
"Oh."
"The two big games consoles both fail with this, I have to reball the graphics chips."
Carol burst out laughing.
"I remove, clean them, put new little balls on solder on each pad, then resolder to the boards."
"That sounds difficult."
"Not really, just need to be careful and not mess up. Any I need to hear about you."
"I work in an accountants, sounds boring but isn't. Sarah works for a customer, she is new to Angbury."
"I didn't like her, she seems very shallow."
"She is a tart to be honest, but a chance to get away, I jumped at it."
"Couldn't you go on your own?"
"Not so easy for a lone woman, unfortunately, and I haven't yet learnt to drive."
"I need to for my job and my hobbies."
"I have just bought a house, money is definitely short, I need to be careful."
"Getting on the housing ladder is good, I live over the repair shop."
Carol sat there quietly for a moment.
"That isn't James' Electronics is it?"
"The one and same!"
"So what are you up here for?"
"Apart from the break, the scenery, mainly, I love the mountains, I take a lot of landscape pictures."
"I love the countryside, I grew up out of town. Can I see them?"
"I don't have many in the car, but you are welcome to see what I have. And you?"
"Sarah wanted a change from partying, I suggesting a walking holiday. We got lost near Welshpool, drove past a beautiful lake, ended up in Bala and the site had spaces"
I could smell her, she smelt lovely. I could study her more closely now, no she was definitely not ugly, yes she was fat, but her face, was pretty nice, I could watch her for ages, her eyes were lovely, her glasses suited the shape of her face, I could tell by the slight shrinking, she was also short sighted. I noticed for the first time she wore large hoop silver earrings, I was a sucker for those, especially with long dark hair.
I looked closely at her hair, it had a gloss, and a lustre.
"I love your hair, it is really nice. Long dark hair is my favourite."
"I had it done last weekend."
"Well they did a good job, can I hold it please?"
"Yes, go ahead."
"It is so smooth." I smiled at her.
"Your hair is not so bad. I am glad it is not shaved, I do hate this bald fashion."