“Yeah, it’s sort of a hidden spot in the woods.”
“Woods. I can’t wait to see that.” Lucy was secretly delighted about both the water and the woods. From where they stood she could already see many trees surrounding the aboveground Big Bang Truck Stop.
“I figured you’d want to see both big trees and water on your initial sneaking out of the basement to visit Earth.” Axel opened the passenger door and helped her inside his large vehicle.
He showed her how to put on her seat belt. “For safety,” he said with a smile and then closed her door securely. He climbed in on the other side, secured his own seat belt and away they went.
“How long will it take to get there?” From her seated position looking through the window at the wonderful things she saw on Earth, Lucy was struck by the huge feeling of being naughty.
This was contrary to the way she usually operated. She was the daughter who never got in trouble. She was the daughter who always stayed home and read books and behaved—unlike her eldest sister, who had gotten into trouble more than once during her formative years on Alpha-Prime.
If Lucy had known how wonderful and exciting it would feel to break the rules—or bend the rules, as Axel called it—she might have done this a long time ago.
Then again, it was likely better to have waited for an opportunity to do it here and now with this perfect man in this wonderful place.
She certainly had a different view of Earth now that she’d visited.
Earther vehicles moved near and around them on the road. The double black ribbon of highway dotted with white lines in the center and gold on the edges mesmerized her as they traveled on.
“I promise I won’t make you late. The place I’m taking you to is only about ten minutes down the road. We can hang out there for twenty or thirty minutes, dip our toes in the water and then head on back with no one the wiser.”
Lucy could already see patches of tall trees alongside the highway they traveled on. The lush surroundings were so very different from the desert-like conditions of Alpha-Prime. Seeing Earth in person was quite dramatic, in a good way.
“I can’t wait to see this swimming hole.”And dip my toes in an outdoor water source.On Alpha-Prime, dipping toes into an outdoor water source might result in having them gnawed on by vicious little crust-fish.
They drove without speaking, which was fine with Lucy. She didn’t think she could come up with anything intelligent to say anyway. She looked out of the clear glass and admired the view. There were strange little buildings by the side of the road that looked like they were built out of wood. Amazing.
There were ditches filled with little puddles of water and green grass as far as the eye could see along each side of the road, broken up only by narrow dirt roads that disappeared into the woods on either side of the double lane highway.
After a few minutes, Axel took a right turn onto the same kind of dirt road she’d noticed along the way. It led straight into a tall patch of trees and suddenly they were surrounded by dark forest. The lush canopy allowed only little shafts of light through to the ground. It was magical. She loved it.
Her heart was beating hard, thudding against her chest wall. This was a very thrilling experience, mostly because the whole way here, she kept thinking, “What if I get caught? What will they say? What will they do?”
Lucy rested her head against the cold glass and looked up to see what she could see. The trees were ridiculously tall.
After the truck bumped and jostled along the dirt road for several minutes, the tree-lined road opened into a large flat area of grass with wildflowers abundant on either side of the dirt road.
Axel took a hard left onto a dirt patch that looked like several other vehicles had created the bare space and tamped down in the center of the ground where no grass blades stood a chance. Now they didn’t have to feel guilty about parking there and smashing all the lovely velvety green.
“Is this swimming hole close by?” Lucy couldn’t see any water, only an open oasis of grass and a tiny hill in front of where they’d parked.
“It’s just up over this knoll. There’s a small area where someone put down sand along a twenty-foot edge, making it look like a beach, but the rest of the edge is all rocky next to the grass.”
“Where we can dip our toes, right?”
“Yep. The pool also has a natural rock formation shaped like stairs that goes down into the swimming hole along one edge. But it’s not too deep. I think you’ll like it. If you had your swimming suit with you, we could take a dip. If nothing else, at least we can roll up our pant legs and get our feet wet.”
She contemplated the idea of dipping her toes into a body of water outside in nature. There was absolutely nothing like it on Alpha-Prime.
He exited his side, grabbing the sack from the convenience store on his way out. He came around and opened her door to help her remove the restricting seat belt. He then opened the back door of his truck and retrieved a bundle from the floor.
“What’s that?”
“Just a blanket and some towels so we can be comfortable while we dip our toes in the water and dry off afterward.” He shut the door and took her hand to lead her around the small hill to another path tamped down in the grass. They walked around the hill and Lucy stopped in her tracks. She stared at the beautiful small lake for a full ten seconds before Axel nudged her forward to see it up close.
“Oh my. This is so beautiful. I love it. It’s like an oasis of water hidden in the middle of the woods.”
Axel grinned. “Glad you like it.”
