It was a hot afternoon, and although rare for the high plains, very muggy as well. Jay stopped his boss' Chevy pickup at the crest of the hill and left the windows down. Huge old cottonwood trees, their hard shiny leaves rustling in the light breeze, ringed the park below them.
Cottonwood seeds drifted around them in the air like snowflakes and lay thick along the cement curb of the unpaved streets. Barefooted, Jay and his two friends picked their way gingerly from the Chevy to the sidewalk trying to avoid patches of Mexican 'goats head' sandburs.
Down the hill they walked, carrying identical white towels borrowed from the motel. Jay looked at the baseball diamond; he could see water standing in batter's boxes beside home plate. Parallel to the ballfield was the swimming pool.
Jay could see the bathhouse's flat roof covered with tar and chat. It's painted cinder block a soothing pale aqua like the color of the pool beside it. Rising from inside the chain-link fence came a babble of children's voices, shouts, and splashes. A word came to mind--"cacophony."
They dodged bicycles on kickstands and those laid over haphazardly on the grass and got in line. A kid with a missing front tooth, and green rubber goggles perched on his head, squinted up at Jay.
Jay and his buddies, Kenny and Dave, each paid the 25-cent admission fee, got their wire basket and went in the changing room with its wet chlorine smell. They did not have much to put in the basket, just their shirts, keys and wallets.
After they showered, Kenny gave their basket to a swimsuit-clad girl standing behind a Dutch door. Then they headed over to sit at one of the tables near the snack bar that were shaded by big metal umbrellas.
The three young men just completed their first year at the State college. They had been roommates, worrying about the draft, enthralled with the plentitude of attractive and interesting coeds, drinking beer...and doing enough schoolwork to get by.
Now on summer vacation, they worked as harvesters, part of a custom cutting crew, following the ripening wheat north from Oklahoma. All three were lean and their upper bodies darkly tanned from working without their shirts. However, their legs below their brand new swimming trunks were pasty white.
A hard rain fell the night before and fields were too wet for cutting. Since their job was driving the wheat trucks, they had nothing to do until the ground dried and the moisture content of grain lowered. Their boss decided to give them the day off. The young men decided to go to the swimming pool and see if they could meet any of the local girls.
The trio sat down and got out their packs of Lucky's, and Kenny and Dave lit up. They were joking around, trying to act cool, and checking to see if there were any young pretty women. Every little Oklahoma and Kansas farm town where they'd worked seemed to have at least one, or two, who were exceptionally attractive.
Then they saw her. Directly in front of them, ascending the ladder out of the pool was a blonde girl in black bathing suit. As she climbed, water pulled the top down lower, and it drew their eyes like magnets. With a quick movement, almost like a reflexive act, she pulled up the top with the shoulder straps, and headed towards a table near theirs.
"I think I'm in love," Kenny said watching her. "Love...hell I'm in lust!" Dave said. Jay said nothing; he just studied the girl as she walked. She was tall, with slim hips and a well filled out bust. It struck him how she moved with a seemingly unconscious grace.
If she noticed them, she gave no clue. She sat at one of the tables laden with beach bags and brushes, packets of potato chips, and other girl clutter, and toweled her hair.
