MAYDAY By N.R.G. The car tyres made a satisfying scrunching noise as I turned onto the shingle drive of the large country house. Turning off the engine I examined the impressive Tudor facade. The whole house reeked of money. Paula looked at me and said, "Are you sure this is the right place? It doesn't look much like a weekend cottage to me." "There's only one way to make sure," I said, opening the car door and climbing out. "I'll go and ring the doorbell." The door opened. Standing, framed by the doorway was a woman in her late thirties dressed in a pair of faded Levi's and a hooped rugby shirt, her blonde hair covered by a red scarf, which I had no doubt was silk. "You found us then," she said, a smile spreading across her attractive face, "Where's Paula?" "She's waiting in the car. We weren't sure that we'd got the right place," I replied, waving to Paula, who promptly left the car to join me. "Hello May," she greeted our hostess. "Looking forward to it?" "Of course," answered the blonde, her eyes sparkling with excitement. "I'll show you to your room and then I'll put the kettle on. By the way I've invited a couple of other friends over to act as referee and timekeeper. I hope you don't mind." "No, I don't mind." Paula assured her. May led us upstairs and showed us into the guest room as we would be staying over night and returning home the following day. Leaving Paula admiring the largely antique furniture that filled the room, I returned to the car to collect our bags. "I'm in the kitchen," called May as we came down the stairs. Unlike the rest of the house the kitchen was completely modern. "I've had the ring set up in the garden, as we're a bit pushed for space inside the house. The weather forecast said it would be a dry evening so we should be all right." "What time do you want to start?" I asked her. "About six o'clock. Roger should be here then with our other guests." Looking up at the kitchen clock Paula said, "We'll that gives me a couple of hours to kill. I think I'll go and lie down until its time to get ready." "If Nigel doesn't mind I think I'll do the same," said May. "No problem," I said. The two women got up and left the room. As she reached the door May said, "There's some beer in the fridge. Help yourself. The T.V. is in the lounge disguised as a cupboard and there are some videos you can watch whilst you're waiting." May's other guests arrived with her boyfriend Richard and they joined me for a drink in the lounge. "Hello, you must be Nigel," greeted Richard as he entered the room. "This is Annie and her husband Mike. Annie's kindly offered to referee tonight." "May's making some final preparations outside and Paula's upstairs," I said after the introductions had been completed. Annie was a very serious looking woman, whose age I would put at early to mid forties. Mike was a short grey haired man in his fifties. "Has your wife had many fights?" asked Mike. "About ten," I replied. "Quite experienced then. Should be able to give May a good run for her money. Annie here has boxed her a couple of times but lost both times," said Richard, and then continuing, "May's never been beaten you know." "So she said in her letter, perhaps that will change after tonight," I said smiling. We carried on chatting for a while and then Richard left the room to help May get ready and I went to help Paula. Annie and Mike took their drinks and went to wait by the ring. Paula was already in her ring gear when I walked into the room and was just waiting for me to tape up her hands. Her whole body was trembling with a mixture of excitement and fear that she always felt before a fight but I knew she would be all right once the fight started. I finished bandaging her hands and then led her downstairs and out to the ring. There was a slightly chilly breeze blowing and Paula gave an involuntary shiver as she climbed through the ropes. May hadn't come out yet so Annie walked over with two pairs of black eight ounce gloves and after checking Paula's hands helped her to put on one of the pairs. As we were tying the laces May climbed into the ring and came over with Richard to have her gloves put on as well. I was pleased to see that Annie checked May's bindings as thoroughly as she had Paula's. I had been worried before that the referee, being a friend of May's might be biassed but following my chat with Annie I felt pretty sure of her impartiality. Once the two women were gloved up Annie gave them their instructions and sent them to their corners. Paula slipped off her sleeveless silk gown and stood there ready for battle. She had chosen to wear a pair of black shorts over a pair of black fishnet tights for tonight's fight and black ring boots. The fight would, of course, be topless. Paula's nipples were standing out like organ stops partly with excitement and partly due to the breeze. Across the ring May had also disrobed, she was wearing a pair of very short pale blue shorts with her name embroidered on both the waistband and right leg, white tasselled boots completed her outfit. Her blonde hair which had previously been covered by a scarf was now pulled back into a neat ponytail in contrast to Paula's wavy brown hair which was hanging loose to her shoulders. Both women weighed around l5Olbs and were the same height at five foot six. May looked to be more fleshy around her belly and hips than Paula but apart from this they seemed very closely matched. They had agreed to box over ten two-minute rounds with the referee to score the contest should it last the full distance. Paula jigged up and down impatiently as we waited for Mike to sort out his stopwatch and ring the bell to start the fight. "Seconds out," he called eventually, "Round one." Bunching her fists tightly in her gloves, Paula moved forward to meet her opponent. Her left jab snapped out towards May's head. May blocked the punch and stabbed a right counter into Paula's momentarily unprotected left breast. Paula danced out of range as May tried to follow up with a left hook. Circling Paula flicked her jab at May's head again, this time prepared for the counter and blocking with her forearm landed her own right on May's left cheek. May took the punch well and unperturbed dug a left into Paula's midriff. Gasping slightly Paula clinched and May pushed her back towards the ropes. Annie was quickly in, to break them up as they wrestled on the ropes. "Box on," said Annie, as she stepped from between them. Landing a stiff left to the blonde's face as she came off the ropes Paula tried to regain the initiative. Missing with her right, she took another hard hook to the body, the black leather glove leaving an angry looking red mark on her ribs. May clearly intended to try and soften Paula up with body shots. Realising this Paula closed with the blonde and hammered her own left hard into the waistband of the blue satin shorts. Pulling away from Paula, May took a left high on her head but the bell rang as Paula attempted to follow it up with her right and Annie stepped smartly between the two fighters to send them to their corners. Despite the chill breeze Paula was perspiring freely when she returned to her corner. Apart from putting some Vaseline to her nipples to prevent them being chafed by her opponent's gloves and giving her a quick drink of water, I had very little work to do on Paula during the break. Across the ring I could see Richard applying an ice-pack to May's cheek which was already looking swollen and puffy, a few more punches there and Paula might close the eye altogether. Both women were back on their feet well before Mike called seconds out and Paula showed no trace of nerves as she waited for the bell for the second round. Mike sounded the bell and they moved towards the middle of the ring once more. Confident that she could withstand May's attacks to her body, Paula went on the offensive stabbing out her left at the blonde's head and then whipping in a hard right to the body followed by a left then right to the head which landed flush on her already swollen cheek. Forced backwards, May covered up blocking Paula's attack before grabbing Paula in a clinch. They strained against each other as Paula tried to break free of May's encircling arms, Annie moved in and prised them apart and warned May for holding. Rejoining the battle May jolted Paula's head back with a solid left to the face. "That's the way," shouted Richard from the corner. Paula threw a right-hand counter catching May on the side of the head but was sent staggering back as another left smashed into her nose. "Go on you've got her now," shouted Richard once more, as Paula fell against the ropes. "Grab and hold," I cried to Paula as May crowded forward landing a vicious right to the breast, her glove sinking deep into the sensitive tissue. Paula slipped sideways along the ropes and dropped to her knees pawing at her left tit. May danced triumphantly to a neutral corner as Annie started to count. Paula shaking her head to clear away the cobwebs and still holding her glove to her breast started to rise as the count reached five. Back on her feet at eight she was ready to face the blonde again. May darted forward behind her left jab, Paula blocked and then smothered May in another clinch. Breaking free from Paula's grip she managed to land another left to the face as the bell rang to end the round. Paula's left breast looked reddened and sore as she sat down on her stool, blood from her nose was also beginning to drip down onto her chin, testimony to the power of her opponent's punches. "Christ that's freezing!" she exclaimed as I pressed the ice-pack against her bruised left tit. "Teach you to get careless," I replied before giving my attention to her damaged nose. Richard meanwhile was occupied trying to reduce the swelling round May's left eye and cheek, which was now so puffy that I doubted she could see properly through it anymore. May was on her feet ready for the bell well before Paula as I made use of every second of the break to reduce the pain in her chest and staunch the flow of blood from her nose. May was already halfway across the ring when the bell rang, hoping to catch Paula off guard. Blocking May's swinging right, Paula allowed May's momentum to carry them both back to the ropes where she held on tightly preventing the blonde from throwing any damaging punches. Annie split them up and admonished Paula for holding. As May resumed her attack, Paula jolted her head back with a stiff left and then parrying another wild right landed her own right on May's damaged cheek. They fell into a clinch and as Annie pushed in between them I could see that May was now cut just below her eye, the blood running down her cheek. Signalling to her husband to stop the clock, Annie sent Paula to a neutral corner and then led May back to her own corner to wipe away the blood and examine the cut more closely. Deciding that the damage wasn't severe enough to stop the fight, Annie called the two women back to the middle of the ring to resume the conflict. May attacked with renewed ferocity piercing Paula's guard with a flurry of shots to both head and body, driving her back into a corner. Bobbing and weaving, desperately trying to escape the onslaught from the blonde, Paula tumbled to the canvas. Annie ruled it a slip and didn't start to count, which allowed Paula to regain the centre of the ring as she stood up. Picking May off with a left-right combination as she rushed in again Paula worsened the cut under her eye. May half turned away in pain and Paula thudded home a painful right to the chest in the closing second of the round. Both fighters were clearly glad to hear the bell and slumped down on their respective stools. As I prepared Paula for the fourth round I glanced across at May's corner where Richard and Annie were arguing heatedly with May, as both of them wanted to stop the fight because of her cut cheek which was now bleeding profusely. May won the argument and was on her feet gloves up high as soon as Mike called seconds out. "Keep out of range and try to pick her off as she comes in. She'll be going all out for a knockout this time." I advised Paula, as I replaced her gumshield and climbed out of the ring. Nodding Paula stood up and steeled herself for the forthcoming assault. The bell rang and May advanced, Richard had done a good job on her cut and her cheek was heavily greased. Eluding May's right swing Paula jabbed her left into the blonde's belly and following instructions danced out of range. Using her footwork to good effect Paula frustrated May's attacks and a stiff left reopened the wound under her eye. May whose boxing had been tight and controlled in the opening couple of rounds was rapidly beginning to tire as she was forced to chase Paula round the ring and her punches were becoming very inaccurate due to the swelling on her cheek obscuring the vision from her left eye. As the round progressed Paula began to land more and more punches to the body, weakening the blonde even further. A lapse in concentration by Paula let May get inside and she landed two solid blows to Paula's breasts making her grab and hold. "Come on May finish her," cried Richard from the corner, as Paula was rocked by hook to the head. "Move away," I shouted to my wife. Ignoring my advice Paula stood toe to toe with the blonde swopping shots to the head and body. May drove home an uppercut into Paula's belly and for the second time she fell gasping to the canvas. "Yess!" screamed Richard and May stepped away from her fallen foe to lean back panting for breath in the neutral corner. "One....Two...." counted Annie, Paula was on her knees with her forehead resting on the canvas her right glove clutched to her belly her left alongside her head, blood from her nose forming a small puddle on the canvas. "Three....Four... .Five...." Paula began to push herself up. "Ding!" went the bell. "End of round four," called Mike from the ringside. Following Paula as she wobbled her way back to her corner, Annie asked, "Are you okay to carry on? Shall I stop the fight?" Paula nodded and then shook her head, still too winded to answer the question verbally. I looked skywards knowing it was futile to try and persuade Paula to chuck in the towel. "I told you to keep out of range and pick her off," I said angrily, attending to her bloody nose. "I thought she had shot her bolt," she wheezed between deep breaths. "She conned me. I'll get her this time," she added. I looked across at May. Richard was working hard to close up her cut once more as she leaned back against the corner padding, arms outstretched along the ropes, drawing in deep lungfuls of air through her wide-open mouth. Both women were very slow to rise when Mike called seconds out trying to squeeze every moment of rest possible from the interval. Paula waited for May to advance, conserving her energy, flat-footed May launched a right at Paula's head. Clearly the fresher of the two despite the knockdown at the end of the last round Paula dodged away, sending a fresh stream of claret down May's cheek with a sharp jab. Wincing in pain from her eye May half turned away, Paula slammed another left into her face and for the first time the big blonde was forced to fall back across the ring. Trying to finish the fight in the fourth had obviously sapped her reserves. Paula switched to the body as May's gloves came up to protect her face, hammering in a brace off left hooks which seemed to bend May's ribs. A wild right caught Paula on the side of the head as May desperately fought back but the strength had gone from her punches, Paula slammed her left into the opening left by May's right hand, striking the point of her jaw and snapping her head back as if it was on a hinge. May crashed over backwards. Richard jumped to his feet and Paula walked slowly to a neutral corner. "NO! GET UP!" he shouted to his stricken girlfriend. "One.... Two....Three...." tolled Annie. May lay on her back her eyes open arms stretched out to the side and shapely legs splayed wide. "COME ON, GET UP MAY!" Richard shouted again this time even more frantically. "Four.... Five....Six...." May's head flopped to one side, her gumshield spilling out of her open mouth onto the canvas. "GET UP!" came the plea from Richard who was now almost in the ring himself. "Seven.... Eight.... Nine...." May rolled onto her belly. Richard jumped into the ring. "Ten.... You're out" called Annie, immediately raising Paula's hand in victory and leaving Richard to look after his beaten girlfriend.