I live up in the hills. Our nearest neighbour is a good half a mile away, mainly because my father is a bit of a sourpuss who picked a place where he wouldn't be bothered by neighbours dropping in. Or anyone else, for that matter.
That was fine for him, but not so fine for me. I'm a bit of an extrovert and I love company. True, there's a small town only a couple of miles away and I often head down there, visiting the mall and meeting friends. My present problem was that my car was off the road, getting some much needed repair work. That left me stuck at home unless I hiked down to the town and that option meant I'd have to hike home afterwards. Not an attractive proposition.
I was feeling a little edgy and cooped in so I decided to go for a walk. There's a creek that passes close to our place and my father had thoughtfully encouraged a pond to form, clearing some of the scrub and sewing some rather tough grass to hold the clear area. I grabbed a book and a blanket and some snacks and headed towards the pond.
The weather was pleasant, warm with only a hint of a breeze. Not hot enough to make swimming desirable, but sufficiently warm to make being outside comfortable. When I reached the pond I spread the blanket out and settled down on it with my book.
I suppose I'd been there for about an hour when I was interrupted.
"Well, hullo, Louise," said a voice.
Looking up I saw a couple of men heading in my direction. Ron and Dave. I knew them as we went to school together, although that was a couple of years back. They'd both been on the team but I'd never actually dated either of them. If I had to guess I'd say that they were either my age or maybe a year older. That would put them at twentyish.
"Ron, Dave," I said, nodding a polite acknowledgement. "What are you doing here?"
"Just getting in some exercise," Ron said. "Gotta keep fit for the tryouts next month."
"Yeah, fit," grunted Dave.
They were both keen sportsmen, fit and athletic, with enough beef to make their mark on the game. When the tryouts came I figured Ron would be in with a fair chance. Dave, though, I suspected was going to be right out of luck. While muscle is all you needed in school and college games once you got past that level the coaches were also looking for brains. This seemed to be an area in which Dave was decidedly lacking.
"Any fish in there?" asked Dave, nodding towards the pond.
I looked at the small pond and the trickle of water that flowed along the creek. Any fish in that trickle wouldn't rate as a minnow.
"Ah, no, Dave," I said. "There used to be a few but the crocodile ate them."
Ron gave me a look but Dave nodded.
"Yeah, crocs will do that," he agreed. "Hey if we catch the croc for you do you think the fish will come back?"
"Well, no, Dave, as the croc wiped them all out. No need to catch the croc as he left when he ran out of fish."
"Oh. Pity."
"Anyway, Louise, what are you doing here? Waiting for someone?"
"Just enjoying some sunshine while I read," I explained. "I live just down the track over there." I nodded in the general direction of the track.
"So just having yourself some me time?" Ron continued and I nodded.