"I'm coming!" Kevin panted.
It was a bit of a struggle to make it to the door quickly without feeling out of breath. The doorbell had just been rung and it was the pizza delivery he had called it not half an hour earlier in the evening.
The pizza place in town had always been prompt with his order. He was by far the best tipper they had and everyone was happy to see when he ordered, their average take on tips for the evening skyrocketed when he called. The drivers even scrambled a little over themselves to be the one to take it out to his place since he never yelled at them.
"Mr. Eckard." The delivery driver smiled when Kevin opened the door.
Kevin didn't know the drivers by name but he did recognize them. This particular young man came out the most often.
"The usual." The driver said as he passed Kevin the pizza.
"The pizza." Kevin laid out the exact charge for the pizza into the driver's hand. "And the tip." He placed the fifty down last.
"Thank you sir." The young man said with a smile.
Kevin closed the door and turned back inside. He settled down in the living room and placed the pizza on the coffee table in front of him.
He sat back into the couch and reached for his portable oxygen. Placing the mask over his face he breathed deeply a few times before relaxing. The extra air helped and he started to feel better.
When he was feeling better he removed the mask and went to the kitchen to get something to drink. As he walked past the open window he heard a rustle in the woods outside. As he watched the tree line he thought he saw a humanlike shape moving deeper into the trees. It was already dusk outside and the fading light made it difficult to see.
The pizza delivery driver had already left, his car no longer on the gravel road that led to the main road, and there was no reason for him to be running about in the woods. Kevin stared at the place he saw the shape disappear for another moment before deciding he was just seeing shadows in the evening or a deer, the shape did seem to have antlers of some sort. It had to have been a deer; they sometimes strayed close to the house.
With his drink in hand he returned to the living room and his meal. Rummaging through his movie collection Kevin picked out something that interested him and settled down again to watch it.
When his movie was finished Kevin cleaned up a little and made his way back to his bedroom. Stripping down to his boxers and t shirt he donned his sleep mask and laid down to sleep.
Outside his window a shape took one last look at his home and moved away through the woods.
Around midmorning the next day Kevin heard a car coming down the gravel road, its tires crunching the gravel underneath them. When he looked out the window he saw a nice BMW coming to a stop, and it looked like a woman was driving.
Confused by who would be coming to visit him he went to step outside. Normally if someone wanted to turn around on the road they would just use the first part of his drive, there was no need to travel all the way back to his house to turn around.
Outside the woman was just getting out of her car. Kevin came to a halt when he saw her. She had platinum blonde hair and was stunningly gorgeous; she looked like a Scandinavian model that had stepped out of a cover shoot.
"Mr. Eckard?" She said as she approached the porch. She was wearing what appeared to be hiking gear, albeit rather form fitting hiking gear. She had one killer body Kevin thought to himself before he tried to banish such thoughts.
"Ah... yes. What can I do for you?"
The blonde held out her hand. "Hi, I'm Val. I'm a nature photographer. I was hoping I could get some shots on your property today. I can pay you." The woman came to a stop in front of him. She had extremely pale blue eyes; they didn't look natural to Kevin.
He frowned. This had to be some sort of trick. He'd had some offers for the property in the past. A few developers wanted to look into starting a new subdivision. There was no way he was going to part with his family's house and land. It was all he had left of them now.
"The land isn't for sale. If that is what you're really looking for." He said.
Val looked at him oddly. "I'm not looking to buy it. Honestly." She flashed him a smile. "I'd just like to get some photos. I heard in town the creek you have out back is really picturesque." She motioned to her car. "I have my equipment with me, I can show you."
Kevin eyed the car then let Val walk him to it. Inside she took out a heavy case and opened it. It contained a camera and several different lenses and flash bulbs.
Val smiled again. It was a very sincere and happy smile and Kevin could not detect any dishonesty in the woman. "Alright. But you don't need to pay me for anything." He insisted.
"I'll give you some copies of all the pictures I take then. It's at least fair."
Kevin nodded. "I'll show you back to the creek if you'd like then. Or would you prefer to come back another time?"
"Right now works perfectly; if you're available to show me."
"Sure. Just let me get some old boots on."
Val offered another smile and turned back to get her camera ready.
Once Kevin had a pair of boots on he saw that Val had a camera looped around her neck and looked ready to go. He had debated on if he should take some air with him. He was feeling ok today and part of him was self-conscious and didn't want to be seen carrying that around an attractive woman.
Kevin pointed to the trail that led into the woods. "This path will take us to the creek. We've had some rain recently so it should be flowing pretty well right now."
Kevin walked at a slower pace and noticed that Val seemed to keep up with him, not trying to walk faster than he was and she didn't seem to be in a hurry either. She was busy taking in her surroundings.
"Is this something you do often?" Kevin asked. "The pictures I mean?"
"Oh yes, or as much as I can. I can show you some on my camera latter. I prefer the pictures when they have been printed out. They look much nicer that way than on the small screen here." She held up her camera so Kevin could see the screen on the back of it.
"Alright." He tried to give her a smile of his own and hoped it didn't come across as awkward.
"Have you lived here long?" Val asked as they walked down the trail. The trees above them formed a protective canopy from the sun.
"My whole life. This is my family's land. That's why I'm not interested in selling it. Or, I guess it's my land now." Kevin added softly.
"Oh?"
"My parents died last year." He shrugged lightly. "So, all of this is mine now."
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked." Val apologized.
