Part One
Natalie had not encountered a living soul for the past three hours. The last had been a couple going in the opposite direction. The sky had imperceptibly turned white, grey and now nearly black. She had looked up a few times, but she had figured she would reach a village before it started raining.
She had been wrong.
The first drops were small and gentle, but they gradually grew bigger. With her heavy backpack it was no use running -- where to? -- and there was no point in putting up her tent. There was not enough time and everything would get wet. All she could do was keep walking. Walking holidays were such fun, she thought to herself.
Nobody could have been happier than Natalie to see the red shape ahead of her when she reached the top of a small hill. TELE HON was printed on it in dirty letters and it was not likely that it still contained a telephone in working order, but that did not matter to her. It had a roof and windows by the looks of it and that was all she needed. She walked as fast as she could and squeezed herself and her backpack into the booth. After pulling the door firmly shut, she put her backpack on the floor and looked around herself. The telephone had indeed been removed and not too recently, but that did not matter. She had a roof over her head now, before her stuff had got soaked through.
There was not a lot of space, but enough to sit. Unfortunately the dark sky and the dirty windows made it impossible to read, so Natalie concentrated on hanging up her wet shirt and putting on a dry one. It looked like she would be stuck in here for quite some time.
She had just been contemplating using her torch to read, when the door was jerked open and a very wet figure appeared before her. "Close the door!" Natalie cried instinctively when she felt the rain being blown in.
"Do I still fit in?" the figure asked. He was dripping wet.
It was a man, but that was all she could tell. "Could you close the door? I know it won't matter to you, but I managed to stay dry." She got to her feet to create more space.
The man took off his backpack and shut the door behind him. "Thank you."
"It's not my phone booth," Natalie replied, feeling a bit silly for being thanked.
"But you got here first. Finders keepers." He tried to find a dry bit of clothing to wipe his face with, but everything was wet. "I could see it coming, but there's no shelter up there." He struggled to take his wet coat off.
Natalie watched as he took off his coat and shirt and got a towel from his backpack. Dried off, she could judge his age and appearance better. He was not old. But he might still be an axe murderer and it might be best not to antagonise him by telling him he was dripping onto his own sitting space.
When he had got himself into a dry woollen sweater, he looked at her again. "Hi, I'm Nick."
"Natalie."
Nick picked up his coat and shirt, felt them and then threw them out of the phone booth.
"What are you doing that for?" Natalie asked curiously.
"They're not going to dry in here anyway. Not in less than a day and I do hope to be out of here tomorrow." He felt his trousers, but decided they were not wet enough to change.
"I hope no one else shows up," Natalie said, trying to make conversation. They would be stuck here for a long while and they had better make it enjoyable.
"That would really be a problem," Nick agreed. "What would you do?"
"I don't know." Natalie tried to sit. She would get a sore behind, but it was better than standing.
Nick followed her example. "Where are you headed?" he asked after a while.
"The campsite at Mennes." She doubted that she would get there before nightfall. "Tomorrow?"
"It's about two hours away."
"Not likely in this weather. Where are you going?"
"The other way. I just came from Mennes. Are you walking all alone?"
"Most of the time," Natalie said guardedly. "Why?" Did he want to make sure there would not be anyone following her around?
"There's a bit of a rough crowd at Mennes, that's why."
"What do they do?"
Nick shrugged. "They're just annoying to girls, or so I've been told."
"Oh well, I'll avoid them," Natalie answered, leaning her head against the dirty glass. The rain was still beating down on the phone booth, even harder than before. She yawned and shivered. But she had her sleeping bag with her, she suddenly realised and unrolled it.
Nick did not seem to be cold. He merely leant back against the glass and closed his eyes. "I suppose this is all we can do at the moment."
Part Two
Because he had his eyes closed, Natalie could study Nick unobserved. She was too uncomfortable to sleep and there was nothing else to look at. The rain beating on the glass made it impossible to look out of the phone booth and she knew what her backpack looked like. Why was she trying to make up excuses anyway? If he should ask her why she was staring, she could just say it was perfectly natural to want to study the complete stranger you were stuck in a small space with. Anyone would do that.
He seemed to be about thirty. His hair was wet, so it was probably lighter than the dark brown it looked at the moment. He was taller than she was, yet not incredibly tall, because he still fit in the phone booth, nor was he fat or skinny. Average was probably the word that best described his appearance.
He was gripping his knees with his hands and she saw he was not wearing a wedding ring, nor any other ring for that matter. Come to think of it, it had also been a good sign that he did not have necklaces and tattoos. She had got a good look at that when he had changed into his dry sweater. Of course she would not know whether he might not have a big tattoo on his lower body. Still, so far, so good.
All in all, when her observation was over she had to conclude that she approved of his appearance. That was a good thing. How would they have lasted through the storm if he had been wearing a big gold necklace that irritated her? Natalie believed outward appearances were always based on something. She had never seen anyone with a gold necklace who was not incredibly common. That did not mean they were not nice. They might be incredibly nice. But she could not help classing a person with a gold necklace into a certain category and it was not hers.
Anyway, she thought, people were always trying to categorise other people and in this particular situation she had very little to go on, so she felt perfectly justified to judge Nick by his appearance alone. She would know it was not all-conclusive. He might not be nice at all.
He was travelling alone, it seemed. Why? She was travelling alone too, but there were many reasons for people to do so. They could be preferring solitude, or they could just be so obnoxious nobody wanted to go with them. It was also possible that they had left their companions behind somewhere or that they were still going to meet up with them. Nick could not be asleep yet, so she could ask. "Why are you travelling alone?"
He opened his eyes. "My companion chose to abandon me."
"Why?" She hoped it was not because he was impossible to get along with.
Nick sighed. "We met a group of girls along the way and he fell desperately in lust with one."
"In lust?" Natalie asked.
"Right."
"Not in love? Or don't you think that's possible?"
"It's possible after one night around a campfire, sure, but not with this particular girl. He said it was, but anyway, he chose to stay with this girl and I was happy to leave him. I didn't want to stay at that campsite to wait for him to wake up. It's okay if he wants to behave like a fool, but he was wasting my time. I have to get back to work next Monday and I do want to see a little more than just that campsite. We spent an extra night there already and he spent something like twenty-four hours in her tent."
"Ah."
"I asked him what he wanted and he said he wanted to stay. He said I could go if I wanted, so I did. Not that I wouldn't have left if he had told me to stay, but still. And you?"
"I was alone from the start. Most people don't like walking," Natalie said. "At least the ones I know don't and I didn't want to go with a total stranger because you never know what you're ending up with."
"And so you ended up in a phone booth with one," Nick remarked. "If you travel alone, don't you want to talk to someone sometimes?"
"Sometimes, but you can't have it all."
"And there are enough rainstorms, you mean."
Natalie smiled. "Yes, they provide enough variation."
"How many times did you get stuck in a phone booth then?" he asked curiously.
"Never, but I got stuck under a bridge and in the toilet facilities at a campsite."
"Well, it's always better to be stuck somewhere with another person than alone. Have you got anything to eat with you?" Nick asked.
She had counted on being at the next camping site around dinner time and she had planned to get something to eat there. "Not much. Are you hungry?"
"A little." He got a pack of biscuits from his backpack and placed it on the floor. "Take some if you're hungry." He ate some and then closed his eyes again.
Even though he was trying to sleep again, it was better than being alone, Natalie thought. Perhaps they would have exhausted all possible topics for conversation before night had even fallen. They had only been in here for half an hour and they were likely to remain in here for a few more hours. Probably all night, the way things looked outside. Even if it stopped raining in two hours from now, there was no way she could reach the next camping site in time. The reception would have closed already and the field would be wet and dark, not to mention the fact that the road would also be dark. She might not even get there in the first place.
Just as she was closing her eyes, Nick groaned. "It's too small in here. Can we lay the backpacks flat and sit on them?"
It gave them a little more space, but it was still not very comfortable. Natalie could not sleep and she just leant against the window with her eyes shut. That was better than nothing and she hoped she would be so tired that she would fall asleep no matter where she was. The steady sound of the rain drops falling would have been hypnotising had it not been for the sudden gusts of wind that managed to scare her every time. Jealously she glanced at Nick, who seemed to be sleeping, despite the discomfort and the fact that it was only late afternoon.
After an hour the storm seemed to quiet down. The wind was still blowing fiercely, but the rain drops seemed to be smaller and to be beating down on the phone booth less hard. Even Natalie fell asleep for a while.
When Natalie woke up it was ten o'clock and practically dark. It did not seem to be raining very much anymore, which was a good thing because she desperately needed to go the toilet and she did not want to get soaked while she did so. Nick was still asleep, or rather, again, she discovered as she found the nearly empty roll of biscuits. He had woken up and eaten some. She had to climb over his legs to get to the door, which was a bit hard. It was all very well to have the man guard the door, but they never had to get out as often as women did.
It was only drizzling now, but it did not really get her wet, even though she had moved some distance away from the phone booth, not wanting to sit down right outside the door. She stuck out her hand to feel how she had to climb over Nick when she returned, but she found only an empty sleeping bag. There was no place to hide in the phone booth; he simply was not there anymore.
Part Three
Natalie began to feel very frightened. It was cold, dark, the wind was still howling and she could not hear or see what might be lurking out there, but something had to be, or Nick would still have been here. Although there might be danger for herself if she called, there was a chance that Nick was only out looking for her. But why had he not called her then? She shivered and anxiously peered around, but the most she could see were shadows. There was no sign of Nick or anybody else. She had better call his name anyway. Maybe he could reply. "Nick!" she called in a fearful voice.
"Yeah? Where are you?"
She was very glad to hear his voice. It did not even sound anxious. He did not seem to be in any danger. In fact, he seemed to be right behind the phone booth. No wonder she had not seen him. Natalie quickly stepped around it. "Oh, there you are," she breathed in relief. "What are you doing?" It was hard to tell, but he seemed to be standing there doing nothing.
"The same thing you were doing. I think." He turned around and she saw he was fastening his belt. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing, but I just got back and saw you were gone. I didn't know you were…" It made sense now and she felt a bit ashamed of her frightened reaction.
"You couldn't know. Sorry. I thought I'd be quicker than you."
Natalie stood still, still recovering from the shock she had received when he had not been in the phone booth. It was not until he took her arm to guide her back into the phone booth that she realised that she was getting wet even in the drizzle and that it was much colder now than during the day. She shivered. "It's cold."
"And wet. Wait." He made her wait outside while he did something inside the phone booth.
"What are you doing?"
Nick handed her a plastic bag. "Put our shoes in here so we can leave them outside. They're muddy."
It took a bit of arranging to get that all done, but finally they were seated in their old positions again. "I'm sorry for freaking out," Natalie said. She did not know what he would be thinking of that.
"You freaked out?"
"That's really nice of you to ask that, but I know you know."
"I…" he began cautiously. "Could hear…something in your voice. I'm sorry, but I had to go really badly."
"How did you know I had to go too?"
Nick laughed a bit self-consciously. "Well, er, you hadn't been yet for the past few hours. I don't know. I didn't think about it. I just assumed."
Natalie breathed in raggedly. He appeared to be nice and yet she had for a few moments contemplated that he was a criminal. She felt a little guilty about that. "I-I didn't know what to assume. You might have been killed or you might have been trying to kill me, for all I knew."
There was a shocked silence as Nick pondered this idea. "Me?" he asked, betraying that he was slightly bewildered by the thought.
"Well, it could have been," Natalie said in a small voice.
"Oh." It did not seem like he agreed.
She wanted to hide somewhere deep down her sleeping bag. "Argh! I don't want to think about it anymore. I want to sleep. If I can. The glass is so hard."
"I would say I'm not, but it doesn't seem as if you'd even consider the idea."
"Huh?" She could not follow him there.
"I can sleep anyway. You can lean against me. Not that you'd want to, but well, at least I made the offer," Nick shrugged.
"I could try," Natalie said after a while.
Part Four
When Natalie woke, the sun was shining and the sky was a bright light blue as if nothing had happened the day before. It was almost ridiculous to be hiding out in a phone booth and passers-by would certainly look upon them strangely, provided that they were out at this hour. She doubted that. A glance at her watch told her it was only nine o'clock, which meant that anyone passing by at this hour had to have left Mennes at seven. Somehow it did not seem likely that people would pack their wet tents that early. At least, she would not, but then again, she would not have considered spending the night in a disused phone booth with a total stranger.
He was awake. She felt as much, but she was not yet up to starting a conversation. There were a few small rabbits hopping around the phone booth that she wanted to watch first. And of course she had to analyse how she had slipped down into this semi-lying position; from sitting up and leaning against Nick's shoulder, she had apparently fallen or slid down to end up with her head on his leg. There was not much of him she could see, except his legs and feet and if she turned her eyes upwards as far as possible, one of his hands that was resting on his other leg. It sometimes moved. That was how she knew he was awake.
A rumble right behind her head startled her so much that she pushed herself up. "What's that?" It was hard to find a good position to sit in, being in a sleeping bag, and she had to strain her stomach muscles not to fall back onto him.
"My stomach," Nick answered. "I'm hungry."
Her muscles were not yet very co-operative after such a short night and Natalie dropped back in her former position. "Oh, sorry," she said with obvious embarrassment. "I can't even sit up straight yet."
"I don't recommend sitting up straight," he remarked. "At least, not for an entire night."
"Oh! Did you get any sleep at all?" Natalie wondered, because she would certainly not have been able to sleep in a sitting position.
"Yes, but I feel a bit sore now -- the parts of me that I can still feel, that is," Nick said dryly. "I need to stretch, but that's a bit hard in here. Can I lift you up so I can go outside?"
"Sure."
Nick wriggled out from under her and tried to stand up, but that was difficult with the backpacks and his own sleeping bag, even though he had only been under it and not in it. He ended up leaving the phone booth in a sitting position and Natalie giggled. It looked like he was as cramped and stiff as she was. He walked around for a bit, stretching and yawning. Then he returned to the phone booth and opened the door again. "I'm sorry. I'm going to have to pull you out of there."
"Why?"
"Because you're lying on my food and I need food badly."
"Oh, I'll get up," Natalie said readily. She tried to.
"I'll just pull you out. I think that's quicker," Nick remarked. He grabbed her hands and pulled but her legs were still in her sleeping bag and she could not use them. Having to hold the door open with his back, he could not step back either and the whole thing did not quite work.
"Maybe I should get out of my sleeping bag first," Natalie suggested. "Put me down." But her head and upper body were out of the phone booth now and her legs were still in it and they were higher too, because they were on the backpacks. If this was not bad enough, she was lying on the zipper and she could not turn over to get at it.
"Crawl," Nick suggested, observing the struggle. "I'm not strong enough to lift you up yet this early."
"Oh, you will be later on?" she mumbled.
"Hopefully."
"I'm not going to do it again later on, so you won't be able to find out." She rolled and crawled out of the phone booth. "The ground is not wet, is it?" she asked suddenly, sitting up. Her sleeping bag would get wet.
"Not much."
Natalie located the zipper and freed herself. Her legs were still a little unsteady at first and she had to take very careful steps at first. "How wonderful to be able to move again, but I wonder if I can ever get up that mountain today. It doesn't feel like it." And certainly not with a heavy backpack on her back.
Nick had dragged his backpack out of the phone booth and began to empty it. "Food, food, food," he muttered to himself.
"You must really be hungry," Natalie remarked, watching the dirty clothes and objects fly past. He did not seem to pack his belongings in a very orderly fashion. He held up a pack of biscuits triumphantly and shook it. His face changed colour as he heard the sound of crumbs. Natalie had never seen anyone look more disappointed and incredulous than Nick at that moment. "I have a spoon," she offered, trying not to laugh outright.
"This is all I had," he said, still incredulous. "And it's inedible."
"You can still eat crumbs. They taste the same." She remembered she had a loaf of bread somewhere, or part of it. "I have some bread."
"Bread?" His face brightened at the thought.
"Yeah, I'll get out of my backpack."
The thought of getting something to eat soon was satisfactory enough at the moment and Nick began to prepare things to boil water. Natalie extracted the loaf of bread from her stuff and unflattened it by pushing it into a more bread-like shape. She cut off a thick slice and handed it to him. "Thank you!" he said gratefully and it was gone in no time at all.
They had a crude and primitive breakfast, but after that night it was wonderful to be able to move freely out in the sun. After breakfast, however, it would be time to move on and to part. They both seemed to be reluctant to hurry, lingering over their meal and boiling all the water they had for as many cups of tea as possible. Then, of course, the backpacks had to be repacked, but it was a bit difficult to find the best way to do so.
Natalie was ready when the first walker passed them. It was a man going up the mountain and she looked after him. She did not want to follow so closely behind. What if it was a creep? And what would he think if only one of them followed him? She glanced at Nick, who had discovered that he had not shaved yet and who was now unpacking as much as he needed to take out his razor. Nothing was stopping her from leaving. She could say goodbye and continue, but why was she lingering?
The man who had just passed them paused on the top of the next hill and took an easel out of his bag, among other things. He also had a stool of sorts. Natalie watched and felt fate was deciding things for her. She could not go in that direction alone. What would the man think of her if she passed him alone? She would have to go the other way.
Nick had also been looking at the man. He repacked his razor carefully, stood indecisive for a minute and then announced that he had not brushed his hair yet.
"You have," Natalie remarked. "Twice already."
"Really?" He felt it. "It doesn't feel that way."
"I don't think your hair will ever feel that way, even if you brush it every five minutes," she said in amusement. His hair was a bit unruly and it did not help that he had a habit of messing it up with his hands just about every ten seconds.
"Oh. Well, I'll do it again, just in case." It took him a few minutes and then he put the brush away.
"Nick," Natalie began. He ruffled his hair unconsciously and she snorted.
"What?" he looked confused.
No, she was not going to tell him, because he would insist on brushing it again and it looked nice this way. "Er, nothing. I was going to say…" she glanced up the hill at the man painting there.
He looked in the same direction. "Yeah…"
"I was thinking…"
"Yeah…it would be a bit…what would he think and all…"
"Exactly. So," she shrugged. "It doesn't really matter to me, so I thought…well, he was looking a bit strangely at us when he passed, so…"
"Yes…"
"Maybe it's best if I go that way again?" she suggested hesitantly, pointing down the mountain. "He might be a creep."
"He did look like he might be one," Nick agreed. "He did look a bit strangely at you when he passed, as if he was checking you out."
"Oh, so you noticed that too!" she said gratefully, ignoring the fact that she had first assumed he had looked strangely because she had been lying on her back with her legs up in the air to stretch them.
"Yes."
"I should go back down again. There was a rough crowd at Mennes, wasn't there?" she asked. Then it was really much safer to walk the other way with him.
"Yes." Nick heaved his backpack onto his back, finally.
Natalie did the same. She took a few tentative steps down the path until she was level with him. It really felt much more comfortable walking down after such a night. Nick took a few hesitant steps as well at first, but they gradually picked up speed when neither seemed intent on stopping or turning back.
Part Five
Sometimes things just took care of themselves and it was best to let that happen without interfering. That was certainly the attitude Natalie had adopted towards the remainder of her trip. She would just see where it ended. On a holiday you should be relaxed and accept that things might go differently from real life. You had the day off and travelling alone you were completely free to choose where to go next. If you did not want to go today, there was no one telling you that you had to. You might as well go tomorrow or not at all. She was free to change her mind at the last moment, just like she was free to talk and walk with anyone she liked. There was no companion who would feel ignored and neglected, or who would be pushy and insistent about where they should go next.
The only thing that restricted her was money and so she could not abandon her walking tour to fly to Egypt to go scuba-diving in the Red Sea. And of course she had to be back home by next Monday, but within reasonable bounds anything was possible. There was no need to be worrying unduly about where Nick might go and if she was going with him for a bit further than just down the mountain. So far they were having an agreeable walk, although feeling tops was definitely a very different sensation from feeling slightly sleep-deprived.
It was not even boring to walk the same way again, Natalie discovered. She was now seeing everything from a different direction and the panorama remained exquisite, no matter how many times you would come down this mountain. She told Nick so when he expressed his concern about it. He looked relieved, perhaps having feared that she would retrace her steps and climb back up anyway, regardless of how far they had already progressed. Natalie looked amused at the thought. "You hadn't thought I'd turn back and go the other way just because I've already been here, had you?"
"Er…well, the thought has crossed my mind," he admitted.
"That would be…" She tried to think of a suitable word. "Ridiculous."
"Yes, you should have done that right away. Especially in company. I might do it if I'm alone," he said reflectively.
"You wouldn't!"
"Yes. But not after two hours, mind you. That would be sooner."
"Well, an hour is long too," Natalie said readily. "And I thought men never changed their minds."
"I might do it if I'm alone, I said," Nick smiled. "How long would you say before we reach some shop or eating place?"
Natalie grimaced and tried to figure it out. "Pooh. From what I remember you can see the village around the next bend and then I say it will be half an hour before we get there. I think it was a little more than that going up."
"Good. I'm starving, but I think I'll be able to survive another half hour."
Around the bend, the road forked straight ahead and it was impossible to see which of the two tracks would lead to the village. Perhaps both, but it was also possible that one would continue along the slope horizontally and never go down into the valley at all. Maybe it only led to more pastures. Natalie paused and frowned. "I don't really remember seeing these cross-roads."
Nick discarded his backpack and climbed onto a fence post, trying to look over the hedges surrounding the pastures. "I can't see where they're going. One of them might just totally go the other way, but one of them is definitely the right one?"
"Definitely," she assured him and jumped around in frustration. "Gahhh! How could I have missed it?"
"Well, if you were looking at one of those cows on the other side of the road as you walked past, it would only be a second or two, but you would have missed the forking."
"I don't actually remember looking at cows." Had she looked at cows? If she had, she could not remember it. Cows were not all that interesting.
"I don't suppose some helpful farmer is going to ride by on his battered bicycle," Nick said in resignation.
"He wouldn't have teeth, so we wouldn't be able to make out a word he was saying," Natalie said morosely.
Nick apparently agreed with her, because he smiled. Then he frowned in concentration and looked doubtful. "I was thinking that the right road seems to be sloping downwards, so that it's probably the left one."
"Why? What kind of logic is behind that?" It actually sounded very much like the sort of reasoning she would do, which could not really be called reasoning, because there was no logic behind it at all. Natalie stared around, hoping that someone would appear who could answer their question. Last night in the rain there had suddenly been a phone box and she had almost been tempted to believe in some higher power that liked her, but it was too much to hope that she was still in its good graces, or someone would appear now. She willed it hard enough.
Perhaps she should try a fatalist stance; that would really get someone through life without worries. Fate wanted them to get stuck at this point. Perhaps there was something here, like an injured bird or a pretty flower that had to be rescued or seen.
"That's the same kind of logic as taking the shortest queue and then having to wait longest," Nick explained.
"Then you always take the longest queue?" she asked curiously, inspecting the roadside for signs of injured birds or hedgehogs. Then she could believe in Fate.
"No." He jumped down from the fence post. "I always take the one which has called for assistance last. Statistics. One queue can never hold more than one stupid person who forgot to weigh their apples." He stared at her and snorted. "You look as if you're expecting a road sign to sprout up any second."
Natalie coloured. What would Nick care about Fate? Nothing, probably. And then she would have to imply that he was part of Fate as well and he might get the wrong idea or he might start feeling as if she wanted to marry him the moment they passed a church down in the village, which was of course completely ridiculous. It was better not to tell him about her philosophical ruminations. "Hedgehogs, actually, but is looking for road signs stupid?"
"Not if you've ever seen it happen before. I haven't, but what do I know?"
"Well, I have been known to overlook them." She looked again, but there really did not seem to be one, not even one that lay fallen by the roadside, overgrown by weeds.
"We know one is definitely the right one, don't we?" he said. "And we're both hungry…" He suddenly had an enlightened thought. "Do you have a map?"
"Now that's really smart," she chuckled and took off her backpack. All her philosophical and existential thoughts had completely blocked out any practical ones. Maybe Nick had been having them as well or maybe he was just a little slow. "I should have a map, yes." She took it out and studied it. "But we don't actually know where we are, do we?" Her optimism faded.
"Is the phone box on the map?"
"They removed that phone in 1900 and this is a fairly new map, so I don't think so," she said in a pessimistic voice. "All I know is that we're somewhere around here, but you see there's a lot of tracks leading off the main track, so which one is this? It could be this one and this one and this one and --"
"Every single one of them." Nick put on his backpack again. "I had an idea before I thought of the map. I have the same map, by the way, somewhere on the bottom of my backpack, so it's no use getting that out as well. My idea was that since we're both hungry, we have the choice between both staying hungry, both getting satisfied or one of us staying hungry and the other getting satisfied."
"How?"
"Either we both take the wrong road…" He gestured at both options questioningly.
"Or we both take the right road," Natalie finished. She hung her backpack back into place and clasped the belt around her waist for more stability. It was a bit wide now, maybe because she really needed to eat something.
"And option three: one of us takes the right road and the other doesn't, but then at least one of us will get food."
"You're treating this too much like a mathematical problem," she grumbled. "What do you suggest we do if one of us doesn't get to the village? Should you or I just go back to this crossing and take the other road? But if you don't know where you are, you never know if you're not nearly there already. You might go back if the village is around the next bend and yet if you keep going, you might end up in a different village altogether. Unless," she glanced at him mischievously. "You had wanted to get rid of me this way."
"No!" Nick said hastily, looking appalled. "I was really trying to find a good solution."
"It would be a good solution if you wanted to get rid of me."
"I don't!" He still looked a little anxious, although she had spoken in a teasing manner, and he pulled an arm through hers to prove he was not going to abandon her. "Come. We'll take the right one."
Natalie protested. "Why the right one? You just said it would be the left one because the right one looks more plausible." But she liked it that he was taking her with him. It was infinitely better to get lost together and Nick seemed to be taking that kind of thing in his stride.
"That's why we're taking the right one."
"I really don't understand male logic," she complained.
"I was trying to reason like a woman," Nick confessed endearingly. "So you'd agree with me and we wouldn't be stuck here till nightfall arguing about it."
Part Six
The road they had chosen fortunately led into the village. Nick cheered when they saw the first house. "The triumph of logic."
"Logic didn't pick this road," Natalie commented. "I won't say anything about logic, because I'm likely to get confused." Especially by Nick's kind of logic. If that was logic, then anything would qualify as such.
"Why?"
"Well, because if your kind of reasoning is logic, then logic is confusing."
"No, life is and reasoning must be adapted to that."
"There is logic in life," Natalie protested. "It starts raining and shelter appears. It was some kind of logic anyway," she said when he began to look dubious.
"It wasn't there before?" Nick inquired, his eyebrows raised curiously.
"I don't know. I hadn't passed that spot yet." That was a good save. Of course, if she had passed that phone box before, she would have had to admit that it had already been there. She was not as superstitious as that.
"Me neither."
This supported Natalie's vague idea of Fate playing some role in all of this. "And it suddenly appeared before you too."
"Right." Nick sounded unconvinced. "I think it has always been there, though."
"But we don't know that." And if Fate had not controlled the phone booth, then it had perhaps controlled their whereabouts and put them there on that mountain road with some purpose in mind.
"Natalie…"
She broke off her fantasising with a guilty expression. "You don't agree." Natalie recognised disbelief when she saw it.
"No."
"I'm not convinced yet either."
Nick was now completely mystified. "Oh."
She laughed at herself and at his reaction. "I'm not vague or anything."
"Oh, absolutely not," he agreed. "I just hope that you're not one of those people who insist on getting wet when it's raining just because they're expecting something or someone to send shelter down from heaven any second."
"No, that's just plain stupid." She was not like that. They saw more houses now and she recognised them. She had passed them yesterday. They were on the right road.
"Food," Nick suddenly said hopefully when he saw a small restaurant. "Shall we?" But it was closed and they had to walk a bit further. Natalie led him to the place she had been the day before. The day was nice, so they sat outside. It did not look like it would start raining any time soon, so it was safe.
"I'm glad I can sit," she sighed, stretching out her legs. "I'm tired." She wanted to lie down or put her feet up.
"So am I, but after a sleepless night spent under a strange woman, it's no wonder, really."
Sleepless? He had been asleep whenever she had been awake and it felt as if she had been awake for the entire night. Logic would have it that he had slept, but Natalie wondered if it was useful to bring up logic with him. "You slept!" she said instead.
"Tell that to my body," he said humorously.
"You slept more than I did."
"No, you did. We must have been awake at different times. I need food first, but after that I need to sleep for an hour or two. I think, if you don't mind, that this town is as far as I'll go today."
She liked it that he asked her if she minded. She did not. She would love to take a nap as well and then leave it until tomorrow to see what they were going to do about the rest of their trips. "Do you want to put up your tent after lunch? What will the people at the campsite say if they see me return?"
"That you love their campsite?"
"Do you ever see problems anywhere?" Natalie wondered.
"Sure, but not such trivial ones," he chuckled. "I'm more likely to worry about getting enough food."
"Why?" Natalie asked, studying his figure. "You don't look as if you need all that much. Where do you put it?"
"I burn it. Probably." He laughed at her critical look. "I don't eat that much. I just haven't had anything decent for ages. Since yesterday afternoon, to be precise."
The waiter came to take their orders and Nick suddenly ducked under the table. Natalie and the waiter were both surprised, although the waiter was satisfied by his explanation that he was searching for his contact lens. Natalie realised after a few seconds that she had not seen him put them in or take them out so far, but she knew nothing about contact lenses and maybe there were kinds that could stay in for longer than she had known him. She ordered for him and did not say anything until the waiter was gone. "Got it yet?"
"I saw my friend," he squeaked up from under the table.
"Where? Under the table?"
"No, across the street."
"Why would that make you duck? What does he look like?" Natalie's eyes darted from left to right, taking in all the people that walked the street on the other side. There were not that many of them and some were definitely the wrong age to be Nick's friend.
"Green shirt, sunglasses, blonde twit at right arm."
"Left arm okay too?" Natalie asked as she had located the man in question. He and the girl were walking to a car, they got in and the girl drove away. "They're gone. They drove off."
Nick surfaced and ran a hand through his hair. "Whew."
"What's wrong with him?" Natalie wanted to know. Why had he ducked?
"Nothing. I just didn't want him to see me. He would have tried to convince me to join them, when -- you saw the girl now. Does she look like a twit or not?"
"She did, rather," Natalie admitted. "But if that's your friend's taste…why did you go with him in the first place?"
"You never know how a man is going to react if he meets a stupid girl. Or if he meets a nice girl," Nick added as an afterthought.
"I think I know why you ducked," Natalie said in amusement. "You told him he was stupid to go with a girl, didn't you? And you don't want him to know you did the same!"
Nick gave her a relieved sort of grin. "You have to admit that he could call me an utter fool if he found out and he would tell everybody."
"So there is something that worries you apart from food?"
"Maybe."
Part Seven
Business at the reception of the campsite was slightly embarrassing when the man on duty did not understand the situation. "You're back again?" he asked Natalie, who nodded. "With him?" he gestured at Nick and she nodded again. "So that's one tent? But two people," he said as if she had not just said two tents and two people.
"No, two tents and two people," Natalie said very clearly with an embarrassed face. How many times was she going to have to explain this? And what was Nick thinking about it? They were not a couple.
"Two tents and two people?" The message seemed to have got through finally.
"Yes."
"And you're here with him? I don't get it," said the man and it was all too clear that he did not. A woman travelling with a man should sleep in the same tent as that man. There was no other way, unless the man snored.
Nick had been studying leaflets of local attractions and events and he stepped closer. "We need an extra tent for our stuff," he said in a bored voice. "Is that okay with you?"
"Oh, okay," said the man with a frown. "I get it. You have a small tent. I get it." He brightened up and hurried with the forms.
Natalie waited until they were outside before saying anything. "Nick!" What had he meant?
"I was just humouring the man," Nick said. "Of course we take our own tents…" He seemed to get an idea, because he looked reflective. "Unless you'd rather not sleep next to your baggage if you can avoid it. My friend and I had arranged it differently."
"So that was one tent for the people and one tent for the things?" Natalie considered the idea. She would do the same if she was with a friend, but now she was with Nick. On the other hand, she could count Nick as a friend now, so what was the problem here? Actually, there did not seem to be a problem. "It sounds like a good idea."
She showed him where the field for tents was. There was enough room to put up two more and they picked a place that would always be in the sun. It was unlikely that it would become very hot and sunshine would dry the tent quicker after rain. They put up the tents opposite to one another, so the outer flaps formed a roofed passage and they could stay dry if it rained. The tents were the same type anyway, only a different colour.
This arrangement was much neater than each of them having everything in one tent and Natalie liked it. She supervised it contentedly from her mattress. "It's like a little house," she yawned. "But we still have to go shopping," she realised reluctantly. She was far too tired to get up again.
Nick took a look at her. "I'll go," he said graciously.
"No! You can't go alone." Natalie made an attempt to get up. It would not be fair to let him go alone. She had to go with him.
Before she was ready to crawl out of the tent, he had zipped up the opening. "Yes, I can. Stay," He said on the other side of the tent.
"But --"
"No buts."
"But do you have money?"
"Yes, I have money."
"Okay," Natalie sank back on her mattress. She had tried, but she would rather stay here, of course. She was about to fall asleep.
Part Eight
When she woke up she had no idea what time it was. It was still light, but Nick was in bed as well. Had she eaten yet? Natalie frowned as she tried to remember, but she the last dinner she could remember was two nights ago. So, no. She had not eaten. But she was hungry. It had been a refreshing nap and she rubbed her eyes. She would just have to go and see what Nick had bought.
And see what else Nick had been up to while she was asleep, she thought as she looked to the right, straight at a washing line full of underwear and socks. It would be really cosy to have dinner here. Natalie shook her head and crawled ahead, into what was originally her tent, but which now served as storage room. It was so neat! But what else could one expect from someone who had kept packing and repacking his backpack this morning?
Natalie began to prepare dinner on the single gas ring she had. Now and then she glanced around the field. Most campers seemed to be eating. Some had even finished already and were carrying their dishes to the washing place. A few children were playing football in the middle of the field and she had to throw back the ball a few times. There was enough to watch.
When dinner was nearly ready, she checked on Nick. He was still asleep, curled up with his head to the other side. Natalie sat still and looked at him with her hand on his shoulder. She paused before she shook him. Should she wake him or should she let him sleep? Dinner would be warm now. If he wanted any dinner at all, she should wake him now, but all he had said he wanted was a nap. He had not mentioned dinner. She withdrew her hand.
But then again, food was important to him. Natalie replaced her hand. "Oh Nick, just wake up before I have to do it to you," she pleaded, still not sure what she should do or how he would react to it.
He sat up straight all of a sudden and looked at her suspiciously. "What?" He backed off a little.
"You're awake? Oh, good." Natalie was relieved that she did not have to make the choice anymore.
"What did you want to do to me?"
"Wake you?" She looked puzzled by his attitude. "You didn't want me to?"
"Oh." Nick looked confused. "Well, it sounded a little as if you were going to kill me or do something horrible."
Natalie was confused now as well. "What? Why? Why should I?"
"Er, I don't know. I was asking myself that too. Why should you wait until now when you could have done it last night? It wouldn't be logical, but madmen never are, so that doesn't mean anything."
Natalie stared at him and she suddenly began to laugh. "Madmen are never logical?" That had some serious implications for Nick's mental health he might not even be aware of. Or did Nick think he was logical?
"No."
"And people who are not logical are madmen?"
"Not always," Nick said cautiously. He did not seem to see why she was laughing after he what he had just said about madmen.
"Pity. I would have said you were calling yourself a madman, otherwise." She was still laughing and held out her hand. "I'm not crazy and I'm not going to do any crazy things. I'm only…burning dinner!" she realised all of a sudden and left the tent in great haste.
Nick joined her a minute later. His hair looked spiky no matter how hard he tried to brush it down with his fingers and Natalie laughed at it. "Did you burn dinner?" he asked, giving up on his hair.
"No, but I only just saved it."
"So…" Nick said when he had got them something to drink from the tent. "You don't think I'm logical?"
"Not particularly." Natalie filled his plate with pasta, assuming he would say stop.
"You've only seen my bad moments," he said with a wink.
She could not keep spooning the pasta onto his plate, or else she would have nothing herself. He had enough now. "That's all you're getting," she announced. "Your bad moments? Hmm. What are your good moments like?"
"They're…good, obviously. That's logical."
Natalie stuck out her tongue. Her eye fell on the washing line and she frowned. "You know, I really like it that you decorated our dining room like that." She turned her back on it. "Did you buy your underwear wholesale or what?" They all looked identical.
"Could be. I wouldn't know. I didn't buy them," Nick said in a perfectly serious voice. "My mother did."
Natalie choked on her food and made some snorting sounds as well. "What did you say?" Men like this existed? He was joking. He must really be joking.
"I said -- no, I'm not going to say it again," he said with a slight blush. "You heard me and you think it's ridiculous."
She shook her head fiercely. "No, no, no! It's…it's…it's…sorry." She took a deep breath. "I'm sure you and your mother have your reasons for that arrangement. Who am I to laugh at it? Really. I don't think it's funny. At least you can wash them yourself." She glanced over her shoulder at the washing line and then began to have her doubts. "You did wash them, didn't you?"
"No, they're just blowing in the wind," Nick said cheerfully.
Natalie looked horrified. "I beg your pardon? They're dirty?" She began to move away.
"Ha, just kidding," he said. "I washed them all -- with washing powder too."
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