I had been in a small accident. Totally not my fault. I was t-boned by a drunk coming through a red light. Him coming through the red light, not me. I had a mild concussion and some general wear and tear, including some facial lacerations. I was in hospital for a couple of days and then told to take at least a week off work to recuperate.
I had some holidays due so I added them to my sick leave and went bush for a few weeks. Up into the mountains, really, but that counts. I was lucky as it was off-peak season and I was given a contact of a guy who had a small cabin who was willing to let me have it cheap. A friend of a friend sort of deal.
For the first week I took it real easy. You couldn't blame me as I looked remarkably similar to someone who'd just gone a few rounds with a heavyweight boxer, losing each and every round. By the end of the first week I was feeling a lot better. Looking a lot better, too, although that wasn't saying much.
By the end of the second week I was back in quite good condition. Hiking through the mountains does that. You either get in shape or die. After thinking for a few days that the die option wasn't going to be all that bad I slowly recovered and got in shape.
Mid way through the third week I received some unexpected visitors. There was a storm. I don't mean that we had some wind and rain. I mean a real storm. Thunder and lightning and teeming rain, liberally laced with hailstones, all being carried along on a howling wind. I quite enjoyed a nice storm as long as I'm nice and snug inside. However, my visitors arrived.
The storm was just getting started when the door to the cabin banged open and four young ladies came barging in. I'd been sitting back relaxing without any lights and they assumed that there was no-one home. They got a hell of a shock when I switched on the light and stood there scowling at them.
I guess I could understand the fact that they were slightly concerned. They were stranded up a mountain in a raging storm and the place where they took shelter contained what probably looked like an unshaven thug with a rather battered face. I wasn't the poster child for hospitality.
I stood and looked at them and they stood and looked at me. I was at home and they were uninvited visitors so I didn't feel constrained to start the ball rolling. I waited for them to speak while I looked them over.
One of the young ladies was a little older than the others. I'd have put her in her early to mid-twenties, whereas the other three were around the eighteen/nineteen mark. They were all fair of face but I couldn't judge their figures through their clothing, them being somewhat bundled up. I had three brunettes and a blonde on my hands.
"Ah, I'm Mrs Simpson," said the oldest of the women. "Um, I'm a teacher and I was taking the girls on a hike when the storm blew up out of nowhere. We saw the cabin and ran to it to get some shelter."
"Marge?" I asked.
"Adele, actually," she said, giving me an annoyed look. Her students on the other hand giggled.
"You really need to get your name changed," muttered someone and Adele switched her annoyed look to her students.
She introduced me to the students but damned if I can remember their names, apart from the blonde. She was Brenda. She was also quite happy and smiling, not nearly as nervous as the other three.
"I'm Ron," I told them. "Make yourselves at home, such as it is. I think you're going to be stuck here for the night. The forecast said the storm would probably last until tomorrow. Not to rub it in, but when you go hiking in the mountains it is a good idea to check the forecast."
"I did," said an indignant Adele. "The forecast was cloudy. No mention of a storm."
"Depends on what side of the mountain you're on," I pointed out. "The other side is probably cloudy with no storm. This side we've got this storm and it seems sort of hung up on the mountain."
Adele ignored me, whipping out her phone and then frowning at it. She appealed for the other girls to check their phones to see if they had a signal. Why bother? If one phone has no signal why would any of the others?
At that point there was a flash outside followed almost immediately by the rumble of thunder.
"I'd forget the phones, if I were you," I told them. "Even if you got a signal you wouldn't get any reception in the middle of a thunderstorm. You'll have to wait until it clears. Were you going hiking overnight?"
Adele nodded and I shrugged.
"So no worries, then. People will assume you're tucked away safe and sound as you planned this trip. Badly, but you planned it, and you are safe and sound."
I left the girls to do whatever they wanted to do. Mainly argue amongst themselves it seemed. After five minutes I was starting to get a bit narked with the whole lot of them. They were just sitting around whining.
I stood up and they all flinched away from me. Except Blondie. Brenda just cocked her head slightly and regarded me with a small smile.
"Instead of sitting around moaning why don't you do something about getting a meal together? There's food in the fridge and the stove works. I assume that one of you must know how to cook."
"Why do we have to cook?" one of them complained.
"Because I'm not cooking. You want to be fed, start with the domestic work and cook something. While you're at it you might as well work out where you're putting your sleeping-bags."
"We can use the bed," Adele quickly pointed out. "It'll be crowded but we won't mind."
"Neither will I," I agreed. "It's been a while since I've had company in that bed."
There was a shattering silence. One of the girls finally broke it.
"B-but you can't sleep with us," she protested.
"Where do you propose I sleep?" I asked affably. "I don't have a sleeping-bag and I doubt that any of your bags would be suitable."
