I never thought I’d have a chance with a girl like her. I screwed up all my courage and asked her out.

“I’d love to go on a date with you,” she said.

We went for a walk, a long walk past the mill and across the bridge. We came to a stone wall, and she said, “Would you mind waiting here a moment while I pee?” I said of course not, and she went around the wall. I expected her to be back in a minute or two, but she wasn’t, and I wondered if it would be all right for me to go around the wall. I waited for another few minutes, and when he still hadn’t returned, I went around the wall.

She was not in sight.

I called out, a gentle call, and there was no answer. I walked briskly along the path which circled some tall trees and there she was sitting in the grass not too far from the stream.

“Oh there you are?” she said, “I was thinking maybe I’d lost you.”