Part 28: Olive's last chance to flirt…

Olive's last chance to flirt.

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Olive relaxed beside her picnic lunch from seven minutes past one in the afternoon till dark. She chewed lazily, savouring the chicken and washing it down with the coke. When finished, she opened a tin of biscuits, her favourite chocolate cookies.

The sound of a tractor made her pause in her feast, and she pulled a knitted bonnet down over her ears and put on a pair of heavy sunglasses. When the tractor reached her, it stopped, its engine died, and a suntanned young man stuck his head out of the window. His handsome face and sunny smile sent a thrilling shudder through Olive. “Picnic, eh?” he said.

“Yeah, taking a day off,” said Olive, short and dull.

“I’m taking a shortcut. First time I’ve seen anyone else in here. Enjoy your picnic.” The man started his engine and went on without looking back.

At dusk, Olive wrapped the remains of her picnic in the blanket and tossed it into the back of her car. The meeting with the attractive farm worker left a sour taste in her mouth. That was Olive’s last chance to flirt, she pondered. I don’t suppose you’ll ever seduce a man, Penelope—damn you!

She hid the two suitcases in the bushes and crept down to the main farm track. No one was in sight. She returned and prepared for the next step in her plan. One of her past boyfriends, a nasty crook called Pest, had shown her how to make a car untraceable. She fetched a hammer and a chisel from her tool kit, and with a few savage cracks, she defaced the numbers stamped on the engine block and chassis so nobody could read them.

Then she removed the licence plates from front and back and placed them beside the suitcases. When there was just enough light to recognise the bushes as hazy masses, she started the car. Gingerly, she drove through the woods and up the incline to the edge of the pond. There she halted, leaving the engine running.
 
To be continued… 
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The real world:
 
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Like to know more about Alf, Bert and the rest of the gang? You can read their chaotic history in What on Earth.
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Image by Marcelo Russo de Oliveira - Coffee Tips Welcome from Pixabay