Free Indecent Exposure (Rude Awakenings) by Kerry Down

Sarah was feeling hot and restless. It was
uncomfortable to sit out in the garden and too humid to stray far from the air
con. She was between books and daytime TV definitely didn’t appeal. Endless
channels of house makeovers and half-wits shouting ‘shocking’ revelations at
each other. Typically, the network connection on her laptop was playing up as
well, so she couldn’t even mess around on the internet.
     
    After an hour of harumphing and grumping around
the place she decided to do something useful. Earlier, while sitting on her sun
lounger, she had noticed that the flower bed in the side garden was looking
decidedly neglected. In fact it was more weeds than anything else. ‘…Bit of hard work, then shower and do the
supermarket…should snap me out of it.. ’
     
    Ten minutes later she had found her gardening
gloves and a big straw hat and was hard at work, pulling and pruning. Although
it was still oppressively sticky, she started to rather enjoy herself, her
reward a slowly growing patch of weed-free soil.
    Lost in her thoughts, she was surprised to hear
a car pull up on the other side of the street. Hers was the last house in the
private road, its double opposite had been empty for months.
     
    A thick beech hedge thwarted her instinctive
curiosity ‘ …well, nosiness really… ’
as she admitted to herself. All she could see were the upstairs bedroom windows
of the large detached building over the way. She heard car doors opening and
then being slammed shut followed by voices. The conversation was too quiet and
far away for her to make out much more than it was two males talking. Quiet
returned, so she gave a little shrug and got on with the weeding.
     
    About half an hour later, a large truck
arrived. ‘…removal van?... ’ and
parked up. This did need to be checked out. She was practically finished anyway
and new neighbours would liven up the dull day. She went upstairs to her
dressing room and peered out of the window. Sure enough a couple of burly men
were manhandling furniture out onto the pavement. ‘…Always looks odd…your private stuff out on public display…’   The thought made her smile as she tried to
work out what sort of people were moving in.
     
    ‘ Ah, the
man of the house… ’ A skinny old man had appeared and was fussing around the
men like an anxious bird. He was scruffily dressed in jeans and a T-shirt,
obviously ready for lifting and shifting. He was soon joined by a much younger
man, ‘… probably not his son…..maybe a
grandson..?. ’ the pair of them setting to work with a will. ‘…Now that’s
what I call a GOOD neighbour…’ Sarah couldn’t help thinking, admiring the
youngster’s clean-cut profile ‘…Looks more like a film-star playing a surfer
dude than a student… ’ taking in his long blond hair and powerful physique.
She didn’t want to be caught peeping, so left them to it and headed for the
shower.
     
    It was one of the luxuries of having such a big
place with just the two of them. Jack had his own room, chock full of sporting
equipment, a comfortable chair, even his own TV. In return, she had this room
for her clothes, which also had its own en-suite bathroom. ‘…Never find the seat left up, never find stubble in the sink… ’ she
had boasted to friends. As they had drifted apart over the past couple of years
they spent less and less time together, even in the house. In the last few
months, Jack had been trying to chase a couple of big accounts to improve his
ailing marketing company. This meant he was only around at the weekend if at
all.
     
    The cool water felt terrific after her hard
work and she was soon refreshed and clean in a pair of shorts and a blouse.
Glancing out, she saw them still working away opposite ‘… must be boiling working in this heat… ’ and selfishly felt glad it
wasn’t her. Pausing to pick up her keys and handbag she went downstairs and out
of the front door. The car was predictably oven-like as she