Lift Perks

Daniel loved the farm life; the outdoors, the fresh air, the work, all of it was everything he liked, there was only one thing missing from that mixture and that was a woman. Part of it was his own fault, since he was rather shy around girls, during his college days it was much easier, met girls in a group and by the time they ended up in a room it didn’t matter if he was shy or not. Once he finished college things changed, since he moved back to the farm he grew up on which was in another province, he didn’t get to see his friends; that meant that the only gathering of people he ever went to was fairs and competitions.

It was month-end and he was driving to town, he had a list of groceries for himself and the farm workers, as he approached the main road, he noticed a figure on a bicycle not far in front of him. As he drew closer he noticed that it was a mountain bike and that the person’s arms and legs was bare, which was strange, not because it was cold, but that the most people who rode a bicycle around here usually wore clothing to protect them from the sun, the person wasn’t even wearing a hat. He slowed down and as he drew abreast the cyclist he saw it was a girl, she was wearing a black dress with white polka dots. He stopped the pick-up and rolled down the electric window, the bicycle came to a stop next to his door and the girl leaned forward to look in,

“Hey there.”

She had a stunning smile, rather cute face with a dash of freckles over her nose and her ash blonde hair caught up into a bun,

“Good morning, I take that you’re on your way in to town?”

She nodded, leaning onto the open window with her elbows, sighing slightly,

“I have to go to the doctor, totally forgot about the appointment, parents have gone to the other farm early…so yeah…”

He grinned,

“I forgot various appointments in the past, want a lift?”

She pursed her lips for a moment and then nodded,

“Yeah sure, it will definitely be much quicker and I only realized half-way just how silly it is to wear a dress on a bicycle.”

He chuckled,

“It sure is, here let me help you.”

As he got out of the cab he wondered for a brief moment where his shyness had gone to…the only explanation he could come up with while he loaded her bicycle onto the back and opened the door for her to get in, was that he was only talking to her, giving her a ride and not trying to get laid…yeah that about explained it…rationally. It also helped that she was friendly and seemingly VERY spontaneous. She mentioned that her father also farms with sheep, but for some strange reason she kept omitting her surname or her father’s name, come to think of it, as he helped her take down her bicycle he knew very little about her, he knew they shared the same taste in music, she had finished school the year before, she read the same authors as he and she kept in shape by cycling and jogging.

“Thank you Daniel, you really saved me a lot of hassle.”

He nodded with a wry smile, briefly touching the edge of his cap,

“No problem.”

She started pushing the bicycle and paused, looking over her shoulder, her blue eyes capturing his for a brief moment, it only then dawned on him that she was tall, basically as tall as he was,

“Name’s Natalya.”

She seemed to wait for a brief moment, leaving him at a loss,

“Uhm…it was nice meeting you Natalya.”

She flashed him that bright smile and walked away, he watched her toned legs as she walked away, the dress surely was a lot shorter than he had imagined a girl would wear on her way to the doctor. He shrugged, got into his pick-up and drove off to do his shopping. With the town basically surrounded by farms, the shops carried a wide variety of stock, also Fridays and end-of-the-month’s saw people flooding the town, some came to stay over in their “town houses” for the weekend, other’s to fetch the children and of course all of them went shopping.

Daniel met a lot of people he knew and his trip became a breakfast, became lunch and he skipped town before it became any later. His pick-up was loaded to the brim with groceries, he sat sipping on a cooldrink as he drove, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel. He turned onto the dirt road and as he finished his drink, a very familiar figure loomed up on the next rise; he slowed down and came to a stop next to Natalya. He could see her laughing and as he rolled down the window that laughter reached into the cab over the music, which he leaned over to turn down.

“Well if it isn’t Mr Daniel the good Samaritan.”

He took off his sunglasses,

“Well if it isn’t the doctor visiting Natalya.”

She pulled a face, but smiled none-the-less,

“I’m guessing you’re going to offer me another lift?”

He glanced up and down the road,

“Yes actually I will want to offer you a lift.”

She held up a finger,

“On one condition only.”

He shrugged,

“Sure.”

“You drop me off where I tell you to.”

For some reason that sounded strange to him, but what harm could it do?