An Awkward Moment 
By Crossmanx at - crossmanx@hotmail.co.uk - comments and ideas welcome.
That time when a moment becomes just a bit to uncomfortable and Awkward!


An Awkward Moment

From his window Paul could see across the road and car parking area and then
over into the town, it was a dull morning and the sun was desperately trying
to come out from behind the clouds to brighten things up. Paul lived just off
the central shopping area of the town, in one of those roads that was made up
of a dozen blocks of flats, and apartments. All with their own car parking
provided and each designated parking slot given a number that corresponded
with the flat it was allocated to.

The area was all nice and organised, and laid out just as some inner city
designer had visualised, just like his flat, or was it an apartment? Every
millimetre worked out for maximum efficiency and usage of space. He'd moved
into his flat a couple of years ago, as the estate agency had said it had
excellent access to commuter routes by rail and road. In other words, close to
the main road and railway station, which was ideal as Paul's job meant he was
here, there and everywhere at a moment's notice.

But today was a day off from all that, a day to relax and 'slob around', catch
up on some of his own personal chores, like doing some washing and maybe put
the hoover around his flat, apartment. It was still early in the morning and
even with a day off he couldn't get out of the habit of waking up and getting
out of bed as soon as the birds started to sing. But he was determined to
relax today and slow down, so by 07:30 he'd only stripped and changed the bed,
put a load of washing on, made breakfast, washed and shaved was wondering what
to do next.

As he stood in his living room, in his dressing gown and drinking his first
cup of coffee of the day he looked around and decided that indeed the hoover
did need to come out and that would next on his list of things to do, on his
day off! As he stood there he looked out of the window onto the road, car
parking area and town centre in front of him. He could see that the curtains
where still drawn on some of the flats and apartment that where adjacent and
opposite to him. He wondered why those around him weren't already up and at
work, or doing something, he might have a day off but he was up and doing
stuff!

It was now that Paul also noticed the comings and goings of those in the other
flats, the tall black man, with that air of arrogance he seemed to have, that
came out of block F and headed towards his smart white sports car. The man
that stepped out of and from the pathway the ran between blocks B & C, the
pathway that leads up to the main road, and as usual the man walked up to the
red car parked over the far side and stood there, waiting. Approximately 5
minutes later a brunette woman came rushing out of block E, a piece of toast
in her hand and unlocked the car so both of them could get in and drive off.
Paul looked at his watch, and as he did so the taxi turned into the main car
parking area and stopped, a few seconds later the main door of block B opened
and the older woman came out and made for the rear door, got in and the taxi
pulled away.

Paul took another sip from his cup of coffee and then the doors of blocks C
and D opened and there was the normal ushering out of children as the women
now met up ready to take their children to, presumably, school. This was the
normal routine around here and one that the man had observed a number of
times, but if this was a normal day he would already be dressed and would then
take his cup into the kitchen and now leave for work. But today was a day off
so the dressing gown and more relaxed attitude meant that he could carry on
observing what else went on around here.

There was a few more comings and goings, nothing that special, that was until
he went to take his last slip of coffee and was about to move away from his
vantage point when he noticed something different, someone new! The door to
block C opened and outcome somebody he'd not seen before, he knew someone had
moved into that block recently, the open door and removal van where always a
giveaway, but he'd not seen who it was. Now Paul could see a new face to the
area and putting two and two together, surmised this must be the new resident.

The new resident was a woman, which for the divorced man was always a good
sign to start with, as he looked down from his high vantage point he could see
she was a youngish woman. He guessed, maybe early twenties, younger than him,
as the 42 year old man was always quick to notice when it came to females. She
was dressed in a pair of bright pink trainers, then tight leggings, black with
a swirly white pattern across them. On top she wore a pink jacket, one of
those outdoor walking rain proof type, she had long red hair that was tied
back in a ponytail, and by the looks of it had a plainish face, but it was
difficult to see at this distance, but overall she didn't look too bad to him.

Somehow she'd got his attention, maybe it was the bright way she was dressed,
preparing herself for the oncoming rain, maybe it was the tight leggings that
got his attention, or even something about her plain look, but she'd been
noticed. The woman came out of the block, looked at her watch and walked off
in the direction of the road. Paul guessed that by the way she was dressed and
where she was heading she was probably going to the gym, health club place
over the way. Which reminded him that he had promised himself he would join
the fitness club and take better care of himself. His 'new year resolution',
even if had gone way beyond the new year, he still needed to sort it out.

As the women went on her way and Paul finished off his drink he then went
about doing all those little things, like the hoovering. Once that was done he
went for a shower and decided to clean that bathroom at the same time, do two
jobs at the same time, nothing wrong in that, and before he knew it, it was
time for another coffee. As he flicked through the morning programmes on TV,
wondering how people watch all this crap, he again looked out of his window
and out into the 'splendid' view before him.

He grinned, not that there was a lot going on, but just that he had nothing
else better to do that look out of his window. Indeed, there wasn't much going
on at all, the rubbish truck was just on its way out after emptying the bins.
Which reminded Paul to take his rubbish out later on, the threating rain had
started, but was just a drizzle nothing more and the woman in the pink jacket
had just turned the corner on her way back to block C. Paul stood there and
watched, she'd probably been to the gym, but at this distance it was difficult
to see if she was sweating or anything like that. She made her way to the main
door and for a second she hunted around in a pocket for her keys. Finding them
and putting the key in, she was about to push open the door and enter when she
stopped.

Paul wondered if the door was jammed or something, but then the woman suddenly
looked around and up, straight at him 'Oh dear, she's seen me watching her!'
There was that awkward moment as he looked down at her and she looked up at
him with a look of puzzlement and slight annoyance on her face, and Paul
looked down at her, still with that silly grin on his face. But it was at this
point that the man realised his could all look a 'bit' creepy, he was still in
his dressing gown, looking at a woman he didn't know out of his window and
grinning at the same time. 'Yep a bit awkward!'

This wasn't looking good for him at all, he tried moving his eyes up and
pretending to look in to the distance, but surly that wouldn't work so he
waved and smiled, a nice friendly smile. The woman looked even more puzzled
and eventually pushed the door open and went into her block, Paul breathed a
sigh of relief and then could have kicked himself for doing the silly smile
and waving at her, how stupid was he? She probably though he was a right
weirdo, or even worse now, he turned around and moved away from the window,
before he caused any more trouble with the neighbours.

Later that morning and Paul went out, a trip into town to do a few things and
pick a couple of bits up was next on his list of thing to do today, not
forgetting to take the rubbish out. He got himself ready, keys, phone, wallet
and left, as he left and was halfway down the stairs 'shit forgot the
rubbish!' Just then the good looking blond woman from the flat below him was
coming out of her door. Paul, his mind on the rubbish, didn't see her at first
and was heading straight at her. Thanks to a quick side step, that made him
look more like a ballet dancer than a rugby player and he'd avoid hitting her.

The woman looked at bit shocked at seeing this man coming rushing down the
stairs and then swerves around her and out of the way 'strange man!' After a
quick 'Sorry!' and Paul was already on his way down the next flight of stairs,
too late to go back up and get the rubbish he forgot or the woman will think
he's a right strange one! Having nearly knocked into her and then turning
around and going back upstairs, would look bizarre at best, so leave the
rubbish until he got back from town.

Today was turning into one of those day, although he'd nothing to really do
toady he's so far managed to make two women think there was something wrong
with him and it was still only the morning. Well look on the bright side,
can't get any worse now, well that's what Paul thought.

As he made his way across the car parking area he noticed something, or should
that be someone up ahead and in front of him. The pink jacket was a bit of a
giveaway and he just shook his head in disbelief as he was now 'following' the
woman down the pathway between blocks B & C. This was the shortcut, the path
that leads out to the main road and then across that, down another road and
there was the town centre. It was the obvious route for anyone living around
here to take to get into town. But why today did she have to be there using it
at the same time as him, especially after that silly waving incident earlier.

But Paul could be a bit stubborn, he could have easily veered off and taken
the long way round, that would have put a lot more distance between 'pink
jacket' and him. Plus, if she knew it was him behind her, how might that look,
what would she think of him 'following' her. But Paul couldn't be bother with
the long way round, after all he'd done nothing wrong, he'd just been looking
out of his window, if she had a problem with that then that was her lookout,
not his. So with that all sorted out in his mind Paul carried on down the path
and towards town.

The woman wasn't slow, which was good, so there wasn't any chance of him
catching her up, there was a good bit of distance between the pair of them, so
it was alright. As the woman reached the end of the pathway and turned onto
the pavement by the main road she stopped, turned and looked back. Of course
Paul noticed this but just carried on walking, 'she must have some sixth sense
when it came to him.' Twice now she'd stopped turned and looked up to see
Paul, both times all innocent but it could also easily be interpreted as
something else.

The look on her face was just the same as before, puzzlement and slight
annoyance, but this time there was something else as well, a look that Paul
didn't quite like. He still carried on walking towards the end of the path
where she was stood, he wondered if she would move on before he got there or
not? Eventually she did move off, crossing the road and going down another
side road, obviously going into town herself 'shirt!' If he now crosses the
road where she did and goes down the same road, it's going to look might
suspicious, but then again why shouldn't he, he's done nothing wrong after
all!

But Paul decided to play it safe, for now, and walk the slightly longer way
around to get into town, not that it was much longer and he did have all day,
but it just seemed better to go this way. He didn't want this new woman to
think she'd moved into a bad area and he was the local ... ... Well he just
didn't want her to think bad of him. By the time he'd thought this all through
in his mind he was in town anyway so there was no harm done, he hopped.

So it wasn't long before Paul had forgotten all about this, he done what he
need to in town and even managed to remembered about getting a new pair of
trousers, lucky he'd thought of that. He quickly nipped into the large
department store, not that he went cloths shopping very often so where was the
men's department? A sign indicated to the top floor so he raced up the stairs,
he hated lifts and escalators, he always used the stairs, so up onto the next
floor and 'women's underwear' Arrh!

As he bounced up from the stair onto the floor who should be there, the woman
in the pink jacket! She looked around as the man thundered up onto the floor,
and the look on her face, well if looks could kill! Paul's face dropped, his
day was going for bad to worse with this woman, what were the odd of him
bumping into 'her' in the women's underwear department. Another awkward moment
and Paul quickly went on his way, 'get out of here as fast as he could', that
was the best thing to do.

Within seconds he was safely up the next flight of stairs and in the men
department and a sense of relief came over him. He'd been so unlucky today
with all this, but now he kept an eye out for anything pink. Stay out of her
way and this will all be forgotten about, well it had better be. Now he was
here he quickly got a new pair of trousers, paid for them and made his way to
the escalators at the far end of the store, at least using these meant he had
a good all round view, keeping a close look out for 'pink!'

He made his way down to the ground floor, everything seemed clear, there was a
couple of sightings of something pink, but there turned out to be nothing, no
sign of 'his' woman in pink. He made his way out of the store and as he'd done
everything it was time to head home, but seeing the way she had come into town
he decided to give that rout a wide berth and take the even 'longer' way home.
This meant going through a couple more shops, down a side street, through an
alleyway and out onto the main road, well away from any route she might take.

He dodged through the couple of shops, still keeping a close eye out for 'her'
then rounding the corner and into the side street with a couple of fashions
shops there so 'keep an eye out', just in case she steps out of one. He was
almost safe and sound and felt a bit more relaxed now, after all it had all
just been coincident he was sure that she didn't ... ... THUD! OOWWWW!

As Paul had turned into the alleyway that lead up to the main road, he wasn't
concentrating and knocked into someone coming the other way. "Sorry my fault I
wasn't ... ... " suddenly Paul stopped unable to finish what he was saying as
he was now looking into the face of a shocked, surprised woman. But this was
no ordinary woman, she was dressed in pink trainers, tight black legging with
a white swirly patted and one of the outdoor walking jacket, a pink outdoor
jacket!

'How could his luck be so bad' but for the first time Paul did manage to get a
good look at her face, and up so close as well. Her long red hair was still
tied back and although she was quite plain, there was something. Her eyes were
deep, that greenie blue colour, quiet gorgeous in fact, and eyes that held his
gaze, a bit too much. But there was something else about this woman and the
way she looked, no makeup, just a natural look that Paul kind of liked, now
that he could see her up close. But the woman's expression quickly changed
from the shock of being knocked into, to one of recognition as she'd seen
'who' had bumped into her, to one now of annoyance and even anger at realising
it was 'him!' WHACK! OOOFFFFF!

That awkward moment after they had bumped into each other was broken, and
broken most firmly by the woman as she shoved her clenched fist into Paul's
gut. As he was standing so close there was no chance of her missing, and she'd
put a lot behind it. Slamming Paul hard and knocking the wind out of him, who
doubled over and gasped for air 'Wow, quite a hit!'

He spluttered a bit as a number of thoughts rushed around his head. He
realised that probably the woman was now freaked out by all this and he must
seem like some kind of stalker. He could understand that, but was that any
reason to hit him so hard and like that, 'maybe they could still just talk
this ... ... ' WHACK!

Before any more ideas came to him Paul was grabbed by the woman, her hands
came down to gripped onto him as he was bent over there and she throws her leg
up, sending her knee pounding into the man's already painful gut and driving
out what air he still had in him. The strike was hard and accurate, the woman
had stopped him in his tracks, hurting him, Paul needed a moment to pull
himself back together to try and sort out this 'mess.' But she had other ideas
and talking about this wasn't one of them SMACK!

Now the woman in the pink jacket brought her fist back into her 'conversation'
with him, only this time it was aimed at the side of the man's jaw, a cracking
blow that now knocked Paul down onto on knee. His jaw felt on fire as if it
had been hit by something really hard and strong, which it had been, hit by
her! He put his arm up to try and protect himself and stop this, but this was
quickly grabbed by her and thrust out of the way, then both hands come back
and grabbed onto the fallen man's head. There was only a moments pause, but to
Paul it seemed so much longer and WALLOP!

The woman swung her thigh around and slammed it into the side of the man's
face, sending Paul spinning around and crashing into the nearby wall of the
alleyway. As he slammed into the bricks and his head spun around, Paul could
taste blood in his mouth, but before he could even think about that WHACK! The
man was on his knees trying to steady himself against the wall when the
woman's trainer came thundering into his chest, shooting in hard and almost
taking him up off his knees with the force she put behind that kick.

He hopped her sudden and 'unprovoked' attack was over THUD! But he was wrong
she gave him one last kick into his gut as he knelt there, before she calmly
gathered herself and walked away, leaving Paul there on the floor to
'contemplate' his behaviour! By the time that the man had got his breath back,
and pulled himself back up onto his feet there was no sign of the woman
anywhere, luckily for him there was no sign of anyone else. After all he
wouldn't want anyone to see him get beat up by a woman, would he!

Once recovered Paul made his was thoughtfully, carefully and slowly back home,
he could call the police and report an assault, but there were no witnesses
and after all what would she say about his 'behaviour.' Would the police take
her side, after all she was just defending herself, wasn't she, and who would
admit to the police they had been beat up by a woman? Certainly not him, so
best to forget it all and hope she would forget it as well.

Eventually he got back to his flat, after carefully making sure that there
wasn't any more incidents or chances of 'bumping' into anyone whist getting
back there. Once inside he poured himself a stiff drink and stayed away from
the windows, so avoiding any chance of looking out and seeing 'someone' by
accident. After a couple of hours of hiding away and feeling a lot better now
he was pottering around in the kitchen when he noticed the bag of rubbish,
still there and still waiting to be taken out.

At this point he could have done the sensible thing of leaving it until the
next day and taking it out when he went off to work, but, no, a sudden
stubborn streak took over. Well after all it was his rubbish, he can take it
out 'whenever he wants' and it wasn't as if he should stay out of the way, she
had hit him, even if she had been lucky and caught him off guard at the time.
With him now fully aware and ready she couldn't be that lucky again, 'what's
she going to do call the police and have him tell them she assaulted him?' The
moral high ground was now his!

The man grabbed the rubbish sack and headed for the door, down the stairs,
past the slightly ajar door of the flat under him, but no sign of the women
he'd almost bumped into early that day, so that was good. Down to the bottom
floor, out the main door and around to the rear of the building were the
communal bin and recycling area was. This little upsurge and trip out of his
flat, even if it was just to the bins, gave Paul a real boost, as he walks
across the grass area and approaches the bin area, with its wooden fence
around it, he felt good. He unlatched the door went inside and went about
putting all his recyclables in the correct containers and the bag of rubbish
into the large wheelie bin.

'There all done' a content and more cheerful Paul had finished and quickly
turned to leave the area by the gate when THUD! OOOWWWHHH! There was another
awkward moment as Paul had not seen someone approach and come through the open
gate, the man had bumped straight into a woman coming in and carrying a large
and very full rubbish bag. The woman was the blond from the flat below him and
she had hold of a large sack with both hands and in front of her. In some
respects, that was a good thing, as Paul had not technical bumped into her,
he'd knocked into the large bag. But on the other hand it hadn't been that
great as when he'd turned and walked into the 'bag' the woman was caught by
surprise, was knock back, slipped and fell backwards to the floor. As she
landed on her arse the bag had fell back, split and its contents washed all
over the poor woman.

There was the normal household rubbish that now covered the woman, including
potato peelings, some of last night's spaghetti bolognese, tea bags, banana
skins and some other sticky yucky looking leftovers. The woman looked a mess
with rubbish and food remains coving her cloths, face, hair and all round her.
At this point the woman was about to go into one "why you ... ... " and just
at that wrong awkward moment, someone else turned up with their rubbish. Just
a simple task of taking the rubbish out and the woman, still in her pink
jacket saw 'that man' stood over another helpless woman covered in rubbish
'what was wrong with this man?

The woman in pink, dropped her own rubbish and rushed over to assist, she
pulled the blond up off the floor and help her brush away all the rubbish off
her. All the time Paul was trying to calm the situation down by explaining
what really happened here. The only thing was, no one was listening to him,
the women were just talking to each other "what's wrong with him?" "He just
seemed to rush at me and knock me down." "God know what's going through his
sick mind."

Paul could see how this all looked and hear how it was going, he was getting
worried and frustrated as neither of them where listen to him. Then he reached
out and grabbed onto each of the women, he garbs an arm of each of them
"LISTEN! It was just an accident I didn't ... ... " Then there was silence,
the woman in pink shakes her arm and brakes his hold, Paul realised he'd just
gone too far now and released his hold on the blond woman 'Crap!'

The woman in pink gentle moves the blond woman over to the side and out of the
way, then she come back and stand in front of Paul, who now is just wishing he
could turn back time. The redhead stands there and unzips her jacket, she
takes it off and throws it down over towards the blond woman, who's now
watching to see how this will all end. She still dressed in her pink trainers,
those black legging with the white swirly pattern and now minus the pink
jacket she reveals her upper body, a firm toned body with a tight pink and red
crop top and a very nice bust.

She doesn't look half bad, even better than that, now that she's revelled and
without the jacket, Paul can see she looks great! Even the slightly
traumatised blond can think to herself 'Wow! Nice!' But the redhead isn't
after complements, even if the blond is quite attractive, the redhead can sort
that out later, for now she's seen enough to know this man needs to be taught
a lesson. And she's happy to give it!

The redhead takes up a boxing stance in front of him 'what the hell was she
doing now, this was getting out of hand', with that Paul dropped his hand down
his side and opened them up. He'd read somewhere this was a non-aggressive
stance and would put everyone at ease ... ... SMASH! Paul had wanted to try
and defuse the situation, be calmly talking it all through as there was
obviously a misunderstanding here. But once he'd put his hands down all the
redhead saw was an open target and let her fist fly into his face, she
obviously not read the same article Paul had!

The man staggers back after the first blow and then even further backwards as
she comes in with her other fist and another blow WHACK! They'd been two
straight forward punches and not ones that Paul had been expecting, but he
felt them. He'd been confused, with knocking over the blond, and then with
'pink jacket' turning up and all the incriminations. OK so he'd sort of lost
it a bit when he grabbed them both, but his mind was all over the place. He'd
realised he was, maybe, a bit out of order, but all he'd wanted to do was try
and sort it all out, but now the redhead was taking over and sorting it out
her way!

Her fist slammed into him a third time and again Paul feels the hard blow
knocking him further backwards and towards the fenced off bin area. Then the
woman, seeing how dazed and confused he was, took the opportunity to 'really'
have a go at him. She came in hard, this time it wasn't a straight fist that
came his way, this time she threw her fist around. It came hurtling around
hard and fast, around in a large circle, building up speed and momentum as it
flew around and came flying towards his jaw. Somehow all this just didn't
register to him, until her fist struck CRACK! But what he did notice was when
it impacted on the side of his face, it hurt like hell and knocked the man
around, sending him spinning and face first straight into the wooden fence.

Lucky for him that the fence was there or he'd have been on the floor, but
this moment of thanks didn't last long as THUD! WHACK! There were two sharp
blows to his back, that punch had spun him around now his back was the woman's
target. She rushed in, jumped up and drove her knee hard into the man's lower
back whilst her fist went up and came down right where his neck and shoulder
met. One sharp pain went up his spine, one dull pain went down his back, there
was a loud cracking sound. He hoped that was the wood breaking and nothing
else, as he was forced, painfully, into the fencing.

Paul was hurt and in a lot of pain, the two well aimed blows had sent him down
from the now broken fence and towards the floor. As he slipped down onto his
knees and against the wood the redhead throw herself into a spin, her leg
comes around and her nice pink trainer now pounded into the back of the man's
head, driving his face further into the fence and through it. The wood broke,
shattered, and Paul was forced through the damaged panel and into the bin
area.

The noise of the man crashing through the fence brought a few faces to the
windows that over looked the grass area and the bins. Now there was a small,
but growing, inquisitive audience, that watched as the redhead stepped over
the smashed wood and reached down, grabbing the stunned man. Then she dragged
him upwards and back onto his, unsteady, feet, still holding onto him tight
she manhandled him out of the bin area and away from it. Paul tried to
struggle, to brake free and escape but the woman's strong knee shots upwards
and into his groin, then his body, stopping any resistance to her. More hurt
and pain for the man, as the woman then got her man into potion WOOOSSSHHH!
THUD!

A classic judo throw and over he went, taken down to the floor by a stunning
looking woman, some of those eyes that were watching were also thinking 'lucky
bastard!' WHACK! 'Maybe not!' The redhead followed up with her pink trainer
into his gut as he lay there on the floor, then another painful blow to his
groin that made Paul jolt sharply and roll around in agony there. Even in so
much pain he desperately tried to roll out of the way, to escape, but the
woman was having none of it as she comes after him ARRRRHHHHH!

She reaches down grabs him by his hair and pulls Paul upwards, as he come up
she garbs his top and drag him close to her, she whispers into his ear
"thanks, I was looking for a way of getting the blond to notice me!" THUD!
Then slams her free hand into his gut, winding the man and making sure he
stays quiet. As she carried on bring him up she lets go of her hold on him and
when he's almost all the way up WHACK! OOOWWWHHH!

The redhead throws her forehead into the upcoming man's face, a head butt to
the bridge of his nose that drops the man back down and onto his knees. The
woman's quick but thorough attack has taken its toll on Paul and practically
out of it now. So the redhead has no problem in dragging the semi-unconscious
man across the floor, she grabs and drags, and he slowly follows and shuffles
across the grass, unaware of where he's been taken. All that is required is a
couple of slaps and hits to keep the man moving as they head back over to the
broken fence and the bin area.

All the time the blond woman has been watching this, mesmerised with how the
redhead has easily beat and controlled the man. The blond has liked what she's
seen here, especially the redhead and can see what's in store for the man so
steps forward to help out. As the redhead gets the docile Paul to where she
wants him the blond joins them. The women look at each other, there are smiles
as they both know what coming next. The women grab the man and haul him
upwards, he goes up and carries on going up and up, then over and THUD!

The women have sent the man up and over and into one of the large wheelie
bins, then the blond gathers up her rubbish, along with the redhead and they
both dump their rubbish in and on top of a hurt, embarrassed and confused
Paul. The women turn and leave the 'dumped' man there in the bin, with the
redhead inviting the blond around to her to 'clean up!' The two new friends
leave and the man is left there to rot!

It was some time before Paul was able to think straight and get himself
together, as he'd dragged himself out of that bin and made his slow way back
to his flat. There were still eyes everywhere, it seemed as if everyone, in
every flat was watching him from their windows now. He'd never been so
humiliated and vowed to do something about it.

Over the next couple of weeks Paul kept himself to himself, he only went out
for work and that was it. All the time he thought he was being looked at,
stared at from the windows of the flats around him as the stories about what
had happed that day had obviously gone around. A couple of times he'd seen the
blond and redhead outside and together, and by the looks of it they had become
firm 'friends!' He'd even heard their laughter from the blonds flat beneath
him as he hid away in his. Paul was determined to get his own back, somehow
and especially on the redhead. But he couldn't go to the local gym and train,
bulk up, get stronger and fitter. He was sure she went there, but there was
another way!

He'd got a flyer in his mail box, self-defence class in the local community
hall a few streets away, that was the answer. So on Thursday night he turned
up at the hall, it was only a couple of minutes' walk away and now he could do
something about all this. In the hall there was a good dozen plus people,
waiting for the lesson to begin. They were all different ages, sizes and
abilities by the looks of things, and no one he recognised, so that was good.

When he arrived the class instructor was already talking to a few people
around them, so he just waited out the way, ready for everything to start. "OK
everyone gathers round please." 'Good it was going to start' everyone went
over to the instructor and formed a semi-circle, "Right first things first,
for this evening class I'll need a volunteer to demonstrate on ... ... "
Paul's eye now fell on the self-defence instructor, who was a woman, dressed
in pink trainers, tight black leggings with a white swirly pattern and then
she was wearing a pink jacket, the type hikers wear. With her long red hair
tied back she undone her jacket to reveal her toned body and that she wearing
a tight pink and red crop top!

The woman looked around at those in her class and as her eyes came to Paul,
she smiled "You! you can 'assist' me, you can be the one I demonstrate on ...
... !"