Chapter 9

I could do it, Polinka thought to herself as she lay in bed the next morning, the inside of the flying saucer bathed in oddly grey coloured warmth as the sun continued to rise and gain strength. She had checked the time on her phone, on charge and fully charged on the bedside table, and it was a little after six. Glancing over to the other bed - a distance which felt like a mile! - she saw her father was still asleep, lying with his back to her, not quite snoring but ‘breathing audibly’, she smiled. She really wanted to take her time in the shower this morning, as if she could somehow wash herself in advance for the days to come when it would be hurried washcloths in the back of Nicky. Not that she minded that in the least as it was epic to be able to spend a fortnight in a vintage VW campervan, but it was nice to be able to wash properly. And sleep properly. Sort of. Yes, it had been a good night’s sleep in that no matter how good the thin mattress in the back of Nicky was, but it was still a thin mattress and the flying saucer had the real deal. Never having been a Girl Guide or gone camping, this holiday was, Polinka realised, the first time she had ever not slept on a bed and she already knew that whenever she moved out when she was older, the most important thing she could buy for her new home would be a stunningly indulgently kick-ass bed. Maybe with a canopy, she smiled.

For now, though, it was shower time and so she carefully eased herself off the side of her bed, looking out her towel from last night, flouffed and dried. Next to it was her father’s, and in a burst of inspiration she took down his, too, folding it and softly placing it on top of the dining table. If he woke before she got back then hopefully he would see the towel, see that hers was missing, and do the maths. As she was folding her towel, Polinka hesitated for a moment as she realised there was another way to do this. Not daring risking it go wrong and her father see her naked bum, haha, she carefully wrapped her towel around her before stepping out of her shorts and tugging her bra out from under where her towel was folded, leaving them both on her bed. Smiling at her daring, she slowly opened the lid of her case, praising herself for not zipping it up last night, and took out her Aveda soap and her Kérastase shampoo, leaving her case open, too, as another clue in case her father missed the first one. That done, and still impressed at her own bravery to be walking around in just a towel, even if it did reach from below her knees all the way up to her armpits where she had folded and securely knotted it, Polinka took the other set of keys from the little shelf by the ramp, said a quick prayer for quiet, and slowly lowered the bottom half of the door. Turning around she saw that, no, she had not woken her father, but not wanting to push her luck any further than she already was, she left the upper half of the door where it was, stooping down as she carefully stepped down the ramp and out, closing it behind her and hoping she had made no more nose doing so than she had opening it.

Looking around outside she could see precisely nobody, which she had hoped and tried to expect but was glad to see all the same, not sure she could have been quite so courageous if there had been throngs of children screaming their excitement at being on holiday. Instead, as far as she could see, the doors and curtains for the other cabins were all still closed, and as they were the only ‘occupants of interplanetary craft’, haha, that meant she had the run of the place. Whispering a soft thank you to whoever was on her side that morning, she slipped on her trainers and headed for the ‘amenities’ block or whatever it was called, enjoying the warmth, the quiet, and the gentle adventure of her wearing nothing but her towel, smiling to herself as she arrived safe and sound, nobody screaming ‘you’re almost naked’ or ‘where’s your father’.

Pushing through the door with the creaky hinges into the Women’s side she quickly took care of matters in the toilets - no trowel, no squat, not missed - before crossing through to the showers, selecting the furthest from the door where, looking one way and the other as though it still made a difference, she checked that she was still all alone as she hung up her towel. Looking from side to side again to make doubly sure, she suddenly stood with her legs apart, her arms akimbo, and grinning at her bravery, faux or otherwise.

I did it, she said to herself, smiling at her own foolishness as she carefully put her soap and shampoo close but not where the water would flow before switching on the water, adjusting it and letting it ‘run warm’ before getting it to the temperature she wanted. Nodding her assent she picked up her soap and began to wash herself, unconsciously turning so that she had her back to the open end of the shower, taking the time to be thorough as she worked, top to bottom so that the suds that ran down also helped out, or so she claimed when she was little, and as she liked to continue to believe now she was a little older. Losing herself in her ablutions her mind fell onto the week’s events. Nicky. ‘Wild’ camping in a different place each night. All those little towns. Clear skies. Quiet. And, of course, best and most important of all, her father. She couldn’t believe how much trouble he had gone to, beginning to arrange this last year, finding ‘hotspots’ where they could stop, and not just here but over in Ireland as well. If it could be more perfect, she had no idea how. In fact it was already more perfect than perfect as she got to sleep in her father’s bed, with her father, and she absolutely loved it. Although if he could somehow stop snuggling up to her in his sleep and making her worry he would discover how he could sometimes get a little handsie in the night, that would be even more perfect too. In truth she didn’t mind and worry about that too much, not any more, more than compensated by the continuing discovery of how special it felt to sleep in her father’s arms. Safe. Protected. And desperately loved. Curiously, there was an element of it that made her feel, a least a very little bit, like she was, well, not his equal, never that of course, but as though they were now in some way on the same page.

Smiling and shaking her head at how bad that metaphor was, Polinka carefully put her soap back out of the reach of the water, literally watching her step, the stall being very slightly tilted and canted so that the water flowed over the lightly textured tiles towards the drain in the middle of the far wall. Picking up her shampoo and taking a nice healthy gob of it in one hand before re-closing the bottle and putting it back out of the way, she preciously shared the shampoo between both hands and began to rub it into her hair as she walked back towards where the shower was still spraying, using her least shampoo covered hand to switch the water off for now as she got to work. Her back unconsciously to the opening once more, Polinka closed her eyes as she really got into it, making sure the shampoo went from her scalp right the way to the ends. As she worked she began to hum to herself, her hum soon becoming an a cappella rendition of ‘Popcorn’, to which she began to carefully dance, keeping her feet still but letting the rest of herself ‘feel the rhythm’. She had just paused washing her hair, head back, for a particularly heartfelt rendition of the ‘wah ... waaaaah’ part—

“—Well hello there,” said a voice from behind her.

She might have gasped an eek but if she did she hoped it hadn’t carried. Quickly running her water over her eyes so she didn’t get any shampoo in them, Polinka turned around to see a young woman, maybe her age, maybe her height, definitely still wearing her towel as she leant against the side of the stall, smiling as she clapped gently, seemingly greatly amused with Polinka’s unintended show.

“Oh. Er, hi. Was I too loud or something?” Polinka asked, worrying for the moment she might have been; it was still early, after all. For a moment she worried about covering herself, but by the time she had washed the shampoo from her eyes it was already too late for that.

“Nope, you were fine. And entertaining. No idea what you were singing, but it had some rhythm to it. So did you.”

“Oh. Uhm, thanks. It was an instrumental,” Polinka said, not sure what to say. She’d been praised, but for her singing? That never happened. Mostly because nobody ever heard it. On purpose.

“Well, you did a good cover of it. Mind if I join you?” the woman asked as she unknotted her towel, casually holding it as she waited for Polinka’s answer.

Polinka’s answer, at least in her mind, was to imagine she looked right now like they did in the old cartoons when someone saw an especially cute woman, complete with her eyes popping out on stalks and her tongue rolling out like a roller blind. Whoever this woman was, she was hawt. Blonde like she was but lighter, small tiddies, nice hips, cheeky smile, and an eyebrow that said, yes, she had had a good look at Polinka and decided to shower with her for, haha, reasons. Shame about the shaved fanny but it was a really cute looking one with the smallest slit Polinka had ever seen.

“Sure. Yourself. I mean help yourself,” Polinka stammered, a little wrong footed by someone that cute wanting to shower with her, someone who knew she was being flirty and knew that Polinka knew, but she didn’t care. Or maybe that added to things for her?

“I’d love to,” the young woman smiled, making Polinka blink and blush in equal measure. “Alison,” the woman smiled as she came up, hand out.

“Polinka,” Polinka said, quickly sticking her hand under the water to wash some shampoo off. “Sorry.”

“Told you. Don’t be. I’m not,” Alison winked. “Polinka? That’s...?”

“Oh, it’s mine. I mean I made it up.”

“So your name isn’t Polinka?” she asked as she began to wash herself, just her arms, Polinka was relieved to see; if she had started on her chest she felt like she might have fainted.

“Only officially. It’s kind of a long story.”

“Worth hearing?”

Polinka shook her head.

“Good enough for me. Polinka, huh? Memorable name as well.”

“As well?”

“As well,” Alison repeated, gesturing to indicate Polinka herself.

“Oh. Uhm, thanks. Er, and you,” Polinka said, amazed at her own bravery at complimenting a stranger who had come to share her shower. She was also convinced there was steam coming from her face if how hot ears felt like was anything to go by.

Alison winked. “Always nice to be appreciated. “So, just in this morning?”