I was out riding the back trails way out in the wilderness. I hadn't seen a soul for a week and didn't really expect to meet one for another week. When I say wilderness I mean wilderness. The scenery at times was magnificent, at others non-existent, everything hidden by old-growth forest. Magnificent in its own way but you sure couldn't see very far.
The hunting was good and I still had a reasonable amount of supplies of things like salt and flour. What I didn't have, damn it, was coffee. I should have had some but a damned bear raided my camp one night. I didn't mind losing a bit of meat because, as I said, the hunting was good. Most of my other stuff was up a tree, out of the reach of casual raiders, but the coffee, rot my luck, was out as I was making some when the bear made its unscheduled visit.
I'd just stayed out of the way while the bear explored, figuring that the bear wouldn't want the coffee. I haven't heard of any bears that liked coffee. This one was no exception. He sniffed at the tin of coffee, sneezed in disgust, and belted the tin so hard it vanished into the woods, spilling coffee everywhere. Good point was the smell of coffee everywhere encouraged the bear to go elsewhere, chewing on my side of venison as he left.
I'd noticed over the past few days that I was moving towards a river and coming out of the forest I found that I was now on the edge of some plains, the river not too far away. I headed towards the river, deciding that it was time I had a decent clean-up and maybe a bit of fishing. Some trout would tend to make up for no coffee.
I followed the river for about an hour, eventually coming to a point where the river curved, leaving a very nice pool at that point. The grass just there was short, probably grazed away by deer when they came down for water. The pool looked deep enough and big enough for both swimming and trout. Any larger and it would be a lake. I built up a small fire, noting that other people had had similar ideas. With the fire set up, but not lit, I stripped off and headed for the water.
My initial concern was to get myself cleaned up. I do like to be decently clean when I can. That done I put in some swimming, diving down and looking around. I was pleased to spot a couple of places where some decent size fish were loitering. I would drop them a line after I was out.
I headed back to the shore, my intention being to dry in the sun while fishing. I was a little taken aback when I realised that there was someone standing on the shore watching me, waiting for me to come out. I wouldn't have been nearly as taken aback if it had been a man waiting, but it wasn't.
The young lady, at a guess somewhere in the eighteen to twenty range, was quite a pretty and shapely young lass. From the way she was dressed I was guessing that she was a homesteader's daughter, probably with a farm further up the river. A good spot now that I thought about it. Any flooding would happen further down river but the homesteader would have a decent water supply all year round.
From her reactions as I came out of the water I was guessing that she was either a total innocent or very knowledgeable about men. In other words she didn't even blink when I emerged, buck naked. Well, that's not quite right. She blinked and looked but then ignored my nudity.
"Who are you?" she demanded. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm Alex. By here do you mean here specifically or here as in the general area? Your name is?"
"I'm Norma. By here I guess I mean both."
"I see. Well I came from that away and am heading in that general direction. Heading towards the coast but in no hurry to get there. As for why I'm here specifically I spotted the pool and decided to have a bath because quite frankly I was starting to smell. Now I intend to dry under the sun while I catch a fish or two for dinner."
"Oh. Your best spot for fishing is over there."
"You lie. I was doing some diving and watching where the fish were loitering and the best spot to catch some would be over there."
I smiled and she blushed, caught out.
"That's my spot," she protested.
"Maybe, but the fish seem to consider it their spot, too. Are you going to do any fishing right now? If you are you can join me in a meal. I already have my fire set."
"I was but I'd intended to have a swim first." She looked at me, chewing on her lip.
"Well, by all means do so," I told her, waving a hand towards the water. "Just don't swim over where I'll be fishing and scaring the fish or I'd be forced to smack your bottom."
She blushed again.
"I wouldn't," she protested. "Ah, I'd have to get undressed to go swimming."
"That would be of no concern to me. It would be hypocritical of me to object considering what I'm wearing now. I'll be over there fishing. Go for it."
"Oh." She sounded surprised. Then she shrugged and whipped off her dress and tossed it to one side, demonstrating that the dress was all that she'd had on. Reasonable, I suppose, if her intention had been to swim and fish, and not expecting any company.
