Lucy

Lucy watched curiously wondering what these two lads were doing frantically rushing around shouting disturbing the tranquillity when suddenly the still surface of the river burst open as a large silver fish leapt out of the water. It twisted in the air then splashed heavily down dis-appearing as suddenly as it appeared. The event left circular ripples radiating towards the con-fines of the riverbank where the disturbance lapped noisily in crevices eroded in the sandy banks. She felt somewhat annoyed, and strangely a little nervous, her private moment of peace in the countryside invaded, transgressed by strangers and spoiled for her. She decided to simply ignore the intruders and speed on past them to the other side of the bridge. Shrugging her shoulders, she mounted her bicycle and apprehensively started pedaling down the hill. Jack fumbled with the buckles on the knapsack and reached under the half-opened flap, he hastily grabbed the net pulling it through the opening. The knapsack slipped out of his hands and fell to the ground causing the tackle box to fall out and burst open spilling the contents all over the roadway. “Bugger, darn it!” he muttered under his breath, he noticed his redundant fishing line hanging limply over the railings. It drooped down from the tip of the rod, an almost weightless strand fluttering in the slight warm breeze. Jack, fearing an impossible tangle, hurriedly retrieved the discarded fishing rod, the line snagged in a splinter on the wooden rail stretching taught as he quickly crossed back over the bridge. Hurriedly he wedged the rod between the railings. Peter shouted, “Forget the tackle, we can take care of that later. I will have to land him on the bank.” Jack looked around for the landing net dropped in the confusion. He spotted it hooked on his bicycle handlebars, hanging perilously between the railings and in danger of falling into the river. Grabbing the net, he glimpsed the young girl cyclist pedaling hurriedly onto the bridge speeding towards him. He glanced down to the wooden planking at fishing paraphernalia; floats, weights and worse of all fishing hooks scattered all over the place. Then he spotted sunlight glinting on the monofilament fishing line stretched taunt between the left and right railings. Jack’s mind raced as he considered an impending disaster begin to unfold. “Hang on to this!” He shouted handing Peter the net; running into the path of the bicycle he began urgently waving his arms at the girl cyclist. “Stop! Stop!” he yelled as he leaped in front of the bicycle. Lucy pulled on the brakes as hard as she could; the bike skidded sideways and the wheels slipped into the groove between the planks. Shrieking she lunged forward leaving the bike falling from under her. Jack reached out catching the full weight of her falling body in his outstretched arms. The force knocked him backwards and they both fell awkwardly to the road. He felt a searing pain in the small of his back as one of the larger fishing weights dug into his kidneys. Lucy planted herself firmly on top of him and they both lay sprawled out on the wooden planking. She looked straight into his bulging eyes his nose only inches away. Badly winded, Jack gulped for air. She analysed her body checking for possible injuries and breathed a sigh of relief finding nothing obvious. Jack stared back at her, unable to speak while Peter watched incredulously waiting for a reaction to their predicament; the look on Lucy’s face was enough to let him know what was coming.