Chimera

The sun shone brightly in the afternoon sky, trying its best to warm the cool world below it. The songs of the few remaining birds were carried through the air on a crisp autumn breeze as it wound its way through the suburbs. Occasionally a few leaves would be plucked from trees cast in fall colors, blanketing the land in a red, and orange quilt.

The steady thwack of hammer on nail could be heard over the constant breeze. As the last nail was driven into the wood, and the last floorboard secured in place the worker stood, and wiped the sweat from her brow, admiring her work.

She was a young woman in her late twenties, though their were still some places that asked to see her card now and then, to which she would always give a mental fist pump.

As she brushed the brown hair that she kept cut in a short bob out of her eyes she took a moment to pull her coverall tighter against the breeze, and survey her workplace. With the floorboards, and most of the support structure in place work could soon start on the stairs,and second floor. If she, and her crew, kept up this place the house would be nearly done by the time the first snows fell.

That was all work for another day though. It was getting late, and at this time of year that meant daylight would start fading pretty soon.
Most of the other workers had already packed it in, and as she turned to join them she considered herself lucky. It had been another average day for an average girl. Some people might find routine boring, but she found it comforting. You could lose your self in routine, and let your mind wander onto whatever it wanted, from the philosophical, to the practical. She preferred the latter.

For instance, now she was focusing on how good it was going to feel to get a hot bath, and wrap her skinny behind in a thick fluffy robe.
Okay maybe skinny wasn't the right word, but thanks to being one of those people who are blessed with a high metabolism, and a physically active occupation her figure was definitely on the trimmer side of average.

Average, that word pretty much summed her up, now that she thought about it. An average girl, working an average job, in an average town. Nothing really stuck out about her. Except maybe...

"Hey, Longshanks!"

Ah yes, that was it.

The call had come from one of her coworkers, and it drew attention to the one big thing that did make her a little less than average. At six foot five she was easy to pick out of a crowd, and he loved to point it out.

She was half-way to her truck when he called out to her, and as she turned to greet him she smiled and said, "Are you ever going to get tired of that one?"

"Probably not," he replied with a smile "you know it's my favorite".

It was true, he had tried every nickname he could think of, from Amazon to Stretch, but Longshanks was easily his favorite. He said he had gotten it out of one of those fantasy novels that he loved so much.

As she considered her comeback she took in her friends appearance. Being short of stature, and rather pudgy, he made her look even taller by comparison. This coupled with the fact that he didn't have a wisp of hair on his head above the ears, and sported a thick well trimmed raven mustache, led her back to her favorite title for him.

"Alright, Spacely," she said,with a flat look on her face.

They stood there for a moment, neither one moving, until slowly the corners of his mouth began to quiver, followed by hers, and they both started to laugh.

"I don't know what's more surprising, the fact that you came up with that nickname, or the fact that I had never heard it before," he said, giving her a shove as he walked up beside her.

"What can I say, I'm a child of the eighties, and it was a great show. At least it was better than most of the stuff kids watch nowadays," she replied.

As the two walked towards their cars, she piped up, "So, what are you up to tonight?"

"Oh you know, just spending the evening with the wife, and kids. You feel like joining us tonight?" he asked.

"Sorry, but I have to get home ,and get some laundry done. I'm almost out of clean shirts," she said.

"Well your loss, the wife's making meatloaf tonight," he said with a lick of his lips.

"Oh, how I would hate to miss that," she said, although to be honest his wife actually made a pretty good meatloaf. However she really hated the idea of hamper diving for clothes in the middle of the week, so laundry it was.

The two shared a brief hug before climbing into their respective vehicles, he into his sedan, and she into her old pickup.

"Take care, Longshanks."

"You too, Spacely."

With that the two friends parted ways to head home.

The drive home was one of her favorite parts of the day. It was a chance to unwind with the help of some good music, so she took out her ipod, pressed a few buttons, and proceeded to 'let the good times roll' as she sang along.

As she drove, and the minutes passed, the houses began to get sparser while the trees grew thicker. Before long she was nearing her home in that delightful area between civilization, and wilderness that most people refer to as the boonies.

In all honesty her little house wasn't all that far from the beaten path, but it was far enough to be private, and that was what she liked about it. Ten minutes of walking in any direction, and she would be in the deep woods with only her thoughts if she wanted.

But that was for later, right now she had things to do. Getting out of her truck, and heading for the front door, she had her keys in hand when she thought she heard something peculiar. It sounded almost like laughter coming from behind her house. Were some kids playing back there?

"Is somebody back there?" she called, sticking her head around the side of the house.

When no answer came she decided have a look. As she headed around back anybody watching from the driveway might of heard a short gasp, followed by a brief flash, and just like that the young woman was gone.