Chris
I judged that it was about ten o'clock with the sun already climbing high into the cloudless sky. It was hot and I was perspiring freely and had been since we left the town just after eight that morning. My shirt was sticking to my back and I paused to wipe my forehead with the bandanna from my neck.
I glanced at my watch to check the time and moved off, counting my paces again. I was four minutes out when I rechecked the watch, so either I was taking shorter steps or my pace was getting slower. I believed it was the latter as the heat was really strength sapping.
I began praying for some sort of vehicle to come to give us a lift. We'd only seen one in the past two hours, and that had been going the other way. The black ribbon of tarmac stretched out before us, shimmering in the heat. Little dust devils rose and fell, they too not having the strength to stay up with the small, slight gust of wind that did nothing to cool us down. If we didn't get a lift soon, it would be well after sundown before we got to the next town.
My name is Chris, and walking slightly ahead of me was Tom, my college roommate, sharing for the past six months. I've just reached eighteen years of age and Tom is four months older than I am, and due to that fact, and also that he'd been in the room first, sort of made him the leader.
I'd no objections to that, as by nature I would say that I was a shy person. But don't get me wrong with that. I could talk quite easily to most people, and answer their questions, but I was always rather hesitant to instigate any sort of conversation.
The sun was really getting hot, and being a natural blonde, I would get red and burn before I tanned. My forearms were already red and I could feel that happening to the back of my neck. I envied Tom his colouring, as he tanned so easily and quickly. I adjusted the bandanna again to cover as much of my neck as possible.
We both were wearing jeans and sturdy hiking boots, shirts sticking to our backs, even though they were open to the waist, and rucksacks. The straps of which were cruelly cutting into my shoulders and just to add to my discomfort, was sure I was getting a blister on my foot.
'Doesn't anybody drive in this part of the country,' I heard Tom mutter, and as if to belie his words, the sound of tyres humming on the asphalt came to our ears from behind. We both stopped and turned to face the approaching vehicle, and held out our thumbs in the universal gesture that begs for a lift, hopeful expressions on faces.
It was a large 'Overlander' four wheel drive peoples carrier, and I could see that it held two persons in the front seats. As it got closer it became apparent that it was a man driving and that the passenger was a woman. She looked at us and I saw her lean towards the driver as the vehicle swept past us. Whatever she said had its effect, because the car suddenly slowed and came to a stop about thirty yards ahead of us. The woman got out and waved for us to come forward. We jogged up to the car, more sweat breaking out with this short show of exertion.
'Going far?' she asked as we arrived and stopped in front of her, slipping the rucksacks off our shoulders.
'As far as you can take us,' Tom replied.
'Throw your kit over the back seat,' she said, opening the rear door, 'and get in. It's bloody hot out here. You,' she said, pointing to me, 'You can sit in the front, and you,' to Tom, 'can ride with me in the back. Come on, quick. We're losing the air conditioning.' We obeyed and, for a big woman, she was very agile and quick in following her own directive. The air in the car was lovely and coldly crisp, and made me gasp as goose bumps came out on my arms. I could see Tom in the rear view mirror, this car had two of them, and he also shivered. The woman saw this and gave his arm a rub with her hand.
'My name's Thelma, and the bum driving is my husband, Trevor.' We said our hellos and Tom did our introductions. I gave Trevor a nod and saw that Thelma still had her hand on Tom's arm.
'Thanks for this lift. It's much appreciated. It was getting rather hot out there,' Tom said.
'Think nothing of it,' Thelma answered. 'We couldn't let two young fella's like you suffer out in that sun, an' we know that not much travels on this here stretch of road around this time of day.' I saw her hand drop from sight, and by the angle of her arm guessed that the hand had come to rest on Tom's thigh. I adjusted the mirror and saw that I was right.
'We're off to some friends of ours who live up off the highway apiece. They're having some sort of party, so, instead of coming next week, we thought we would drop in a little earlier.'
I could see her hand now rubbing itself up and down Tom's thigh, moving closer to his crotch with every stroke.
'Say! Would you two fella's like to come along? There's always plenty of food and drink, and I'm sure some of the girls will be there too. Maria lays on a good spread, believe me.'
I could see that Thelma's hand was now rubbing the bulge in his jeans and he was beginning to move about uncomfortably.
'Well,' Tom laughed a little self-consciously, 'I'm game for anything,' giving Thelma a sideways glance to see if she picked up the innuendo. 'What about you Chris,' he said, giving me a short punch on the shoulder. I half turned my head and nodded.
'That's settled then,' said Thelma. 'Hit the gas Trev, and keep your eyes on the road. I'm going to be busy.'