It began as a typical summer evening for me, spent fishing at the river during the months between high school and college. On many nights after work and on weekends, I'd drive to a little-used, densely wooded and overgrown park that was technically closed after dark, but where nobody enforced the rule unless you were causing trouble for the people who lived along the periphery. A steep, eroded trail led to a bend in the river where it confluenced with a small, fast-flowing creek. It was a very productive spot, especially for rough fish like carp and catfish, and a good place to relax and get away from the commotion of town life.
Usually my friend Sam, our neighbor's son, would tag along with me. That particular night he went to a party instead; I was invited but chose not to go because I didn't know most of the other people who would be there. His loss, I thought. As the sun went down, the boat traffic stopped on the river and the calls of songbirds and cicadas made way for the night shift chorus of frogs, crickets, and in the distance, a barred owl. A waning moon, just a few days from the full was already up well above the horizon, proving enough light to see without bothering with a lantern. The mosquitoes started to be a nuisance, so I started piling twigs and small branches to make a bonfire, preferring the natural smoke to Deet as a repellent.
Fishing was slow - just a few light nibbles, and I was thinking of heading home when I saw bright headlights from what looked like a station wagon at the top of the hill by the parking lot. Not many people fished there at night, so I assumed that it was Sam when I heard somebody coming down that way..."Sam, is that you?" In case it was police looking to run me off or tell me to put out the bonfire, I preemptively reeled up my lines.
A girl's voice answered instead, "Mark?"
"Yes, it's me, who's there?"
By the time I asked she had walked down within view, I could see that it was Judy. Judy was a quirky girl, someone I'd see and occasionally exchange words with in school, but apart from the fact that she had also graduated that year and had been in one of my classes, we didn't really have much to do with each other. While in high school, Judy had a reputation for sleeping around and for chasing any guy who took her fancy, a rumor I never cared much about one way or the other.
"How are you, Judy? What brings you here? Did Sam come along with you?"
"No, he's still at the party, probably getting laid with Karen (laughs)...he said you were down here, thought I'd come by and say hi, that's all. What have you been up to this summer?"
"Not much, found a job helping with shipping and receiving at Wilson's - the electronics company down Route 44, getting mentally ready for college, I guess."
"Why didn't you come to the party? Was hoping to see you...here, I brought you a beer." Judy laughed again, I could tell she had her fair share of drinks. Not drunk exactly, just disinhibited.
"I don't know, not really my thing I guess..." I paused to feed a few more branches into fire, which rose and hissed as the kindling lit the bigger pieces of wood. Judy stepped towards the fire, the light shining on her face and profile. Judy had a roundish, almost heart-shaped face with pale, very white skin. She was large-boned and thick but not fat, almost my height, and with large, round breasts. As she bent down to poke a stick into the flames, I could tell that she wasn't wearing a bra under her tank-top, leaving very little to the imagination, and her tattered jean shorts hugged her thick but firm white thighs tightly about midway down to her knees.
"I guess you like what you see?" she laughed, looking up at me with a teasing smile.
"Oh, uhm..." I mumbled incoherently and apologetically.
