by Paul Beckman
She felt a loss coming on, yet just a few minutes ago Sharon was giggling with her friends, swapping gossip, and telling funny stories. As she waited at the bus stop, the rain started and the wind began blowing. She wrapped her coat tighter.
A car pulled up to the bus stop, window lowered, and the driver asked Sharon if she’d like a ride home.
Sharon, freezing to the bone, nodded and opened the passenger door. She got in and with chattering teeth attempted to thank the father of one her friends she’d been partying with.
“Open your coat and I’ll show you a trick to get warm in two minutes.”
Sharon untied her coat and the man cranked up the heat and told Sharon to hold the coat around the heating duct and the chill receded, and then came on again when she felt the man’s hand on her thigh.
“How’s that?” He asked.
Wonderful, just wonderful, she said to herself, leaning back keeping her eyes closed. She clamped her thighs together trapping the man’s hand and felt yet another chill while his hand moved.
“This is as far as I’m going,” he said pulling his car over, and Sharon, who continued leaning back with her eyes scrunched tight, pulled his hand off her leg, opened her car door and said into the wind, “You bet your ass it is.”