Chapter 1

Charlie looked at the women gathered around the table.

"OK. It was my senior year; remember when I hurt my knee? Well, Michael was helping me with the rehabilitation."

Charlie smiled as her mind drifted back to that one afternoon.

"Ow! Watch it OK!" Charlie glared at Michael.

"Sorry. I'm just trying to help. Your knee is still pretty swollen."

Charlie crossed her arms over her chest and didn't say a word. Until Mike twisted her knee the other way - "OW!"

"Why did you wear these clothes today? It's hard to work you with 'this' in the way." Mike tugged at a floppy pant leg.

"Well sorry - if they're such a problem then take them off."

"What!? Take them off?"

"Oh please - I have sport briefs on." Charlie unsnapped her shorts and lifted her hips. Mike paused. "Geez 'Michelle' you've seen me wear less in the pool."

Mike flashed on a memory from many years back and smiled.

"What are you grinning at you big dork."

Mike smiled deeply, "I was just remembering the first time I came over to swim. You certainly shocked me with what you were wearing that day."

"You are such a jerk. My sister still bugs me about that day. Gawd - I knew I was skinny then but how could you have thought I was a boy? That was so embarrassing - and in front of her friends too." Charlie playfully punched Mike shoulder.

"I told you I couldn't see - I'd broken my glasses just before I met you that first time. C'mon Char - give a guy a break?"

Charlene thought back to that summer day so many years before. They had recently moved into a new house and she hadn't met any kids her age. They were either older or younger, and what was worse none were interested in shooting hoops with her.

About two weeks into the new neighborhood she was at a local park practicing free throws when a skinny dark haired kid had walked up. He was squinting a lot and had that obnoxious problem that all boys seemed to have - they were alive and they had a galling need to state the absolute obvious.

"You shooting baskets?"

Charlene stared at the boy with her mouth open as she stood at the free throw line. She shook her head to herself and swished another basket. She retrieved the ball and prepared to shoot again. Swish.

"Nice shot."

"Thanks." She stood ready to shot again when she glanced over at the squinting boy. "Is there something wrong with your eyes?"

"Oh... no? Why? Oh... I get it."

"Well... is there something wrong with your eyes?"

"Oh... I broke my glasses while I was on vacation. We were at my cousins house and we were playing baseball and I was hitting my cousin hard I mean I was hitting the ball hard because he was pitching and he was getting pissed off and he said Michael you asshole stop hitting the ball so hard and..."

"Okay, okay... I get it... thanks for the life story." Swish. "You play roundball?"

"Is the Pope religious?"

"What?" Charlene shook her head again - boys. Her sister Jenn raved about them - this boy is this or that boy is that. 'He's so cute... he's so cool... he's so... he's so... ' Charlene had yet to meet any boy that she didn't think was at best 'so-so.'

"Yeah. What's your name? I like to know that name of my victims."

Charlene flinched as she heard what was possibly the worst... no, no make that what was certainly the worst Dracula accent ever. "Charlene."

"Nice ta meetcha Charlie."

Charlene shook her head again. He can't see, he can't hear, and he probably can't shoot - lucky me.

An hour later Charlene ran her fingers through her short blonde hair. Sweat dripped freely from her face. She glared into Mike's squinty face. "Next shot wins - alright?" Swish. "I win." Charlene grabbed the ball and started to walk away.

"What? What's wrong with you? Give me the ball!"

"I said, 'NEXT SHOT WINS' you nodded I shot - I swished - I win. Seems pretty clear to me - how do you see it?"

Mike sputtered and spit. "I demand a rematch!"

Charlene walked away in triumph, "Fine - I see you here tomorrow at 10. Try to bring your "A" game - I could use a good workout."

And so began a hotly contested competition of cutthroat basketball between a couple of 11 year old kids. Games were won - games were lost. On the sixth day the temperature climb dizzyingly until Charlene called time out. "It's too hot to play anymore - I'm going home."

"OK. Tomorrow's supposed to be hotter."

"Hey do you want to come over to my house and swim? It'll be okay because my mom will be home."

"Yeah! I can't come over until after lunch - I'm getting new glasses tomorrow."

Mike stood at Charlie's front door with his towel in hand. His new glasses were great. He was in the middle of his second knock when the door opened. A girl with long blonde hair stood before him. Mike was eye level with her breasts. His eyes widen at the size of them. They were literally overflowing her bikini top.

"Yes. What do you want?"

Mike glanced up at the girls face, "Charlie invited me over to swim," and back at her breasts. Her nipples were swelling and Mike's mouth fell silently open.

"Charlie? Oh you mean... I'm up here you little pervert." Mike's mouth snapped shut and his head flicked up. The girls opened the door wider, "Well... are you coming in or not?" She turned and walked away, "Oh Charlieeee, your little friend is here to play with you." The girl walked toward the back yard. "Oh and this is the bathroom, please use it so you don't pee in the pool."

Mike laid his towel on a table. The pool looked pretty good. The girl who'd answered the door was sitting with two of her friends. Mike found it very easy to ignore them. He shook his head slowly girls were so weird.

"Hey Michael."

Mike turned. He was smiling at first... then his head cocked to the side just a bit... he bent his head forward as if to see more clearly. He was surprised... no, no confused was more accurate. Charlie was wearing a two-piece bathing suit, the kind of suit a girl would wear. "You're a girl?"

The howls of laughter that erupted from the girl who had opened the door and her two friends was like the screeching of fingernails on a blackboard. Mike turned to glare at them and was unprepared for the excellent flying tackle by Charlene. She knocked the air out of him as he went into the pool. He sank like a rock.

Luckily, one the girls was a swim instructor and rescued Mike. A couple of rescue breaths and Mike was fine, well except for the murderous glare that Charlie was leveling at him.