It was an absolutely beautiful day and Patricia was determined to take full advantage of it. It was late in the summer and the heat had finally dissipated. There was a cool edge to the night air, but the days were still warm and comfortable.
One of the advantages to living so far out in the country was the ability to take long afternoon walks down the country road that their house was situated on. Patricia really wished that Michael could be home more often to share these walks with her. She understood that he had to be gone during the week, that was how he earned enough to pay for this easy country lifestyle, but sometimes she REALLY missed his company. And, if she was honest with herself, sometimes she missed his attention to her body.
As she walked out the door she paused briefly, wondering if perhaps she should change her top. The one she was wearing was just a thin little white number with spaghetti straps. "No" she thought, "I probably won't even run into anybody. And besides, it is really warm out today". With that resolved, she called for the dogs to walk with her, and away they went.
As she walked down the road beneath the dense overhangs of oak and walnut she thought about the little creek down the way and how good the cool water would feel on her feet. She often stopped there to wade in the water and let the dog's splash and play. The little creek widened out as it passed under the bridge and the area was quite popular as a swimming hole for local kids. Just last week she had seen some young men there with a net, catching minnows and putting them into a bucket. She assumed that they used the minnows for bait when they went fishing. The thought of the young men, shirtless and in shorts, wading in the pools of water gave her a surprising little shiver. She shook herself out of the reverie and thought to herself "I guess I'm missing Michael more than I realized".
As she approached the bridge, she began to veer off the gravel road towards the water's edge. The dogs instantly recognized what this meant and away they went, dashing down to the creek and splashing in with enthusiasm. Patricia warily waded in and stood in a shallow area, letting the water wash over her feet and calves. She realized that the day must have been a bit warmer than she realized because she had worked up a bit of a sweat and the water felt deliciously cool.
As she stood there basking in the sun and enjoying the cool wonderful sensation, the dogs suddenly stopped splashing and stared up in the direction of the road. Patricia froze, thinking perhaps they had seen an animal, but then relaxed when she realized that they were just watching a small pickup as it slowly approached the bridge. The truck slowed and pulled off beside the road and two young men got out. Patricia could see that they had a bucket and a net. Clearly they were planning to catch some bait for the evenings foray to the local fishing-hole.
As she stood there watching them from a distance the dogs began to growl, low and menacing. They had never been mean or dangerous dogs but they were protective and she wanted to make sure they understood that there was nothing threatening. "Hello" she called out, while simultaneously trying to grab the dogs collars to keep them close. It was only at the last minute that she realized her mistake. Just as she got a hand on the collar of the dog closest to her, he decided that they guys were friendly and took off like a flash to greet them (as was his way). Her footing on the slippery pebbles was somewhat precarious to begin with and the jerk of the collar was all it took to send her face down in the shallow water.
Patricia emerged from the cool water sputtering and coughing, trying desperately to recover some semblance of composure. As she stood and brushed the water from her face she realized that the two young men had seen her fall and were rushing over to help. "Are you OK?" asked the first to arrive.
She assured them that the only serious injury had been to her pride. "I must look a mess" she said absently as she tried to squeeze some of the water from her hair so that it would stop running into her eyes.
Much to her surprise, both of them exclaimed "No, No...You look GREAT!!"
Slowly it dawned on her confused mind that these young men were staring. In fact, their eye's seemed glued to her body. At first she was uncertain what to think of this sudden turn of events. Then she realized why. That little white spaghetti strap top was pretty thin to begin with and now that it was wet it was little better than nothing at all.
Her first reaction was to cross her arms and try to cover herself, but she realized that this was little help. Her cheeks turned crimson as she stammered out an apology. Surly these young men would not be interested in seeing this much of a woman old enough to be their mother. But despite her embarrassment and her assessment of the situation, the young men just continued to stare. With a start she realized that she recognized that look. It was a look of brazen lust and desire. Not exactly the reaction she expected.
It wasn't that she was unattractive...In fact she was a very pretty woman. Although she had gained a few pounds over the years, she still attracted a lot of attention when she went out. She was petite and curvy with a bubbly personality that just seemed to naturally draw men to her. Michael had often commented on it and once even suggested that perhaps she should take some guy up on his advances. When she questioned him about it he assured her that he would be ok with her doing that, but she had been far too uncertain about herself to seriously consider it.
