JAKE
Bill said 7:30 a.m.,right? It’s 7:40 and there’s no sign of anyone at all on this farm. I go back through my texts to confirm I’m at the right barn, as there are a few buildings here.
Then a hair-raising, blood-curdling scream cuts through the air. My short stint as an EMT gave me an adrenaline junkie complex. It comes down to some basic Neanderthal part of me: someone is in trouble. I’m the one to go.
I jog toward the sound, hoping I hear it again and can find them.
“Hello?” I call out.
The response is . . . laughter?
And an excited squeal.
“Ew, you’re all wet!” followed by more musical laughter.
I’m beside the big white farmhouse and continuing to run, just in case. Halfway across the lawn, I spot a t-shirt on the ground. A flash of a figure passes ahead of me and more giggles fill the air.
“Wanna do it again?” a woman’s voice asks.
Then with another scream, a naked woman and a dog run by and jump. A lake or pond must be ahead, up the hill a bit and through some brush. Water splashes as the naked figure curls into a ball and disappears.
Is this a mirage in the desert? It is pretty hot outside, but I’m hydrated. If I’m not hallucinating, that woman’s waist-to-hip ratio is the kind of thing that could keep a man up at night. People pay money to see a show like this. Her breasts bounced when she was running, and so did her ass.
Her nice, big, fleshy, round ass. Goddamn. She’s a work of art.
Those screams are so authentic, though. She must have been letting out some kind of awful something. Catharsis.
I don’t know who this woman is, but she’s certainly not Bill.
She emerges from the water, droplets streaming off her every curve as she wrings out her hair. Thick, dark hair spirals toward her waist, and oh my god, she’s probably wringing out her hair because she’s done.
And she’s about to find out that I saw her.
I turn tail and sprint back for the barn.
* * *
I sitin my truck’s tailgate, waiting for someone else to show up. Is this all some elaborate prank?
I have
twiddled my thumbs.
thought about math equations to get my body to calm down.
examined my truck for signs of rust.
fucked with my hat and been thankful I got a replacement for my old beat-up one.
thought about that woman’s hips, ass, and tits because why wouldn’t I?
again thought of the most boring shit I can conjure so I don’t think about the person skinny dipping in a pond.
Relief floods through me when another car pulls in the drive, proving I’m not just a guy spying on a beautiful woman skinny dipping, but in fact, a guy reporting for his first day of work. A tall and lean guy gets out, with dark skin and hair that’s close cropped on the sides and fades into short coils. He reaches back into his car to grab a ball cap from his passenger seat, then checks his phone before waving.
“Hey, man. Rossetti’s Peaches, right?”
“Think so. I’m Jake.”
