Better take the safer route

With a sigh of resignation Jen turned to her right and began the excursion across the pond. She found herself further annoyed with having to take so many detours, but the man fishing was just too close for her liking. She settled back into her rhythm of checking the ground, then stepping forward quietly but quickly.

She didn’t have to walk for far before the trees curled towards the north. She’d reached part of the eastern bank of the pond. Glancing out she was about as close to the fisher as she was going to get, still several yards away and across the water, but closer than she wanted to be to anyone right now. She kept moving and verifying she was well hidden by trees.

Soon she was facing straight north and the fisher was just barely behind her. Looking across the water ahead she could see the other boat now. It was a couple, a man and a woman sitting next to each other, oars slanted up and out of the water. They appeared to simply be relaxing and looking out across the water. Jen couldn’t be sure if they were speaking or not, she was still too far away.

She kept moving, leaving the angler behind but slowly approaching the couple. The trees began to grow a little thicker and Jen picked up her pace a little. She took care to make sure she didn’t step on anything that would injure her but otherwise allowed herself to make a little more sound. She was far enough away from both parties that they shouldn’t hear anything- if they did there was no reason they shouldn’t consider it local wildlife.

Then the trees began thinning out again, only slightly but leaving a few gaps that she didn’t like. She resumed her creeping pace and kept a close eye on the couple as she drew closer. She approached a moderate gap in the trees and peeked out. They were still looking out across the far side of the pond, not in her direction at all, their boat slowly rotating in the water. Jen planned out her next several steps and moved briskly but quietly. She heard only light sounds as she strode across the earth and lightly nudged leaves with her arms and shoulders. Not nearly enough noise to be heard more than a few meters away. She reached another set of trees and stopped long enough to view the couple. Still looking away. Still being lightly turned around by the breeze.

Jen resumed her quiet walk, looking for the next gap of trees she would have to cross. It was several yards away. She allowed herself to move slightly faster now that she had better cover available, still glancing out on occasion to make sure she wasn’t drawing any unwanted attention. She took a moment to look back south and saw the fisher still standing in his boat, facing another direction. A few more long steps and she reached the last gap ahead of her and huddled behind a tree.

Jen peered out of the trees once more and quickly darted back. The boat’s rotation had spun it so the couple was looking right in her direction. Jen inched to her right, only allowing one eye to see out to the pond, concealing the rest of her from their view.

Dear god, it’s like she’s looking right at me, she thought. Wait, is she looking right at me? No, I don’t think so… She doesn’t look like she’s paying attention to something, just letting the turning boat move things into view.

Jen stayed frozen in place, subconsciously holding her breath for a moment before she realized she was doing it.

Breathe, she told herself. Neither of them have noticed you. Let’s just wait for the boat to turn. Even if she’s not focusing on anything movement is bound to draw her eye. It’ll only take a few minutes.

As she knelt behind the tree and watched the slowly pivoting boat Jen felt impatience settling in once again, an acute sense of frustration. Frustration at having to take so many detours and wait so many times to complete what would have been a fifteen to twenty minute walk under normal circumstances.

She reminded herself to breathe again. There was no point in getting upset right now. Once she was past all this, sure, but not now. She looked out to the boat and saw the woman’s eyes were elsewhere now. Jen felt the lady’s peripheral vision could still pick her up so she decided to wait another minute before moving. She looked northwards and started picking out the quickest, cleanest path to the next set of trees.

Sixty seconds passed and she glanced back to the water. The couple and spun far enough that Jen felt safe in moving. She stood back up, double checked the path she wanted to take and quickly took several long paces forward. She refused to let herself look left again, trusting that she’d timed things well enough that she wouldn’t draw attention.

Jen reached the next set of trees and paused momentarily to catch her breath. She continued to not allow herself to glance back at the couple. She didn’t hear them, and assumed that no cries of shock or amused chatter meant she had gone unseen. And if she hadn’t, well ignorance would be bliss in this case.

Eventually Jen reached the northern bank of the pond. She gauged her surroundings and felt the parking lot was further north. She kept moving that way, knowing she could double back a little if she wanted to stick close to the pond and head back to the trail.

Another several yards and Jen reached the end of the trees. She scanned right and saw a highway well to the east, allowing herself to realize where she was. She was at the end of what used to be farmland, now nothing more than a large dirt field that was slowly returning to nature. When the city had purchased land for the park they hadn’t bothered acquiring these few acres and it was assumed that the farmers had closed shop and gone elsewhere. While the city took care of the grounds they owed, this had fallen into neglect. The trees hadn’t started growing back into the field, but some weeds and occasional clusters of tall, yellowed natural grass stood scattered across the acreage. Otherwise this was little more than dry earth.

Directly west Jen saw the tree line start to angle north again. She followed the trees and saw where they ended and the parking lot began. Her angle kept her car out of view, only a corner of asphalt visible beyond the trees. She could walk straight towards those last trees, a final quick hiding place before a mad dash to her car. The highway was a good distance away. She looked that direction again and could barely make out the drivers, little more than small silhouettes and travelling at speed. She felt secure that with the distance and the grass clumps it was unlikely any drivers would see her, and if any did they would be moving too quickly to realize she was stark naked.

She walked out of the trees and began striding across the field at a fast pace. The sight of the parking lot re-energized her. Knowing she was almost out of this mess kept her moving eagerly, able to move at a speed she hadn’t been able to when she was darting around trees.

Almost there, she thought. Better than halfway already. Just keep moving, we’ll be heading home before you know it.

A light breeze tickled the sweat she’d built up and she felt cooler. Jen walked a hair faster still, glancing occasionally left and right even though she was certain the chances of being seen were minuscule. Despite the feeling of being practically invisible her nerves wouldn’t quite calm down entirely. She knew they wouldn’t until after she got dressed.

Jen reached a near jog the last few yards before she paused at the trees bordering the parking lot. Going back into hiding she scrutinized the lot to make sure no one was sitting in their cars. Aside from her own vehicle Jen saw a red SUV and another sedan, both empty. To the west she saw the metallic green trash can where Eve had promised to leave her clothes. Beyond the trash can and a parking lot, running southwards along a portion of the park, was another field. She’d seen it a dozen times while driving by the area, it had far more clusters of tall grass than the meadow she had just cut through.

The moment Jen confirmed there wasn’t a soul in sight, she went around the tree and sprinted for her car. Her arms pumped hard to propel her forwards, her bare feet loudly slapping against the asphalt. She ran past the back end of her car and pivoted towards the driver’s door, stopping for less than a second to snap up the key she’d left balanced on the rear tire.

Once the door was open Jen practically fell into the seat and shut it behind her. Part of her wanted to take a moment to breathe but she didn’t want her energy to start to wane. She started the car up and pulled out of her parking space, u-turned and then pulled up next to the trash can. She stepped back into complete exposure for a few short seconds, reaching into the trash can, shuffling some paper refuse around and, feeling plastic under her fingers, pulling out a familiar shopping bag. She could clearly see her jeans inside. She dropped back in the seat, closed the door and started rooting around in the bag.

Dressing while seated in a car wasn’t the easiest feat she’d ever attempted but Jen wasn’t about to step back out of the car when someone could walk off the trail and into the parking lot at any moment. Her panties went on first, and the difficultly only told her how tricky it would be to put her jeans on. She decided to leave those last, fastening her bra next and pulling the straps over her shoulders, then her t-shirt. Finally she slipped her jeans under the steering wheel and groped blindly with her feet for the legs. After a few moments of struggle she managed to get her legs situated properly and leaned back against the seat so she could slide the jeans up her thighs, butt and hips. Finally she was able to lean forward and easily slip her sandals onto each foot.

Now she allowed herself time to relax. She cranked the air conditioning up full blast, slumped back against the car seat and closed her eyes for a moment. She felt tired, emotionally drained. Embarrassed. Humiliated. Letting the cool air wash around her and taking a few deep breaths she let the tension sink out of her body. The she opened her eyes and shifted the car back into park.

Jen began driving towards the park exit, but had to steer off to the side to allow two pickup trucks in, each hauling a trailer with the city’s logo emblazoned on the side. She was briefly confused by their presence but then glanced towards the south, to the field with the overgrown grass. She knew that area was owned and maintained by the city and they mowed the grass a few times a year so it didn’t get too far out of hand, but was generally left alone. The trucks were likely loaded with riding lawn mowers, here to tend to some landscaping.

Once they were both out of the way and maneuvering themselves into place, Jen pulled out of the parking lot, onto the main road and began heading home.