“I think it’s getting worse,” Trixie commented, from her place lying on the sofa of their weekend cottage. “The drips are dripping closer together.”

In the middle of the room, a plop, plop, plop echoed in an old, metal bucket placed there. Near the bathroom, water dripping into a green plastic bucket made a different sound, while drops falling into the saucepan on the dining table were muffled to dull thuds by the dishcloth they’d placed in the bottom.

Honey, near the window, glanced outside. “It’s just raining harder. Maybe, if the rain eases off a little, it won’t drip so much.”

“Well, I hope it stops dripping before bedtime.” Di pressed her hands to her ears. “It’ll be torture to try to sleep with this going on all night.”

Trixie swung her legs off the sofa and walked over to the door. “Let’s go for a run.”

Di shook her head. “It’ll be freezing out there.”

“It’s not that cold,” Trixie argued. “It’ll be warmer than swimming in the lake at home. And if we get some exercise, even if the entire place is filled with things to catch all the drips, we’ll be tired enough to sleep tonight anyway.”

“If we can find anywhere dry,” Di added, rather gloomily.

“You can have that sofa, if you want,” Trixie offered. “Come on. I need to work off some energy.”

The other two peered out into a wild landscape obscured by steadily falling rain.

“Are you sure about this, Trixie?” Honey wondered. “Because I think, on the whole, I’d rather stay in here, where it’s mostly dry, than go out there, where it’s completely wet.”

“It’ll be fun.”

“You say that…” Di trailed off, with another glance outside. “Oh, okay. I’ll do it. It’ll be better than just hanging around in here for the entire weekend. Just hold on a minute while I change my clothes.”

A few minutes later, the three met by the front door.

“Who’ll take the key?” Trixie asked, swinging it from a finger.

Honey took it from her. “I will. I’ve got a pocket in my shorts.”

She tucked the key inside before Di pulled the door shut. She gave it a push, but it had locked itself.

“I kind of wish it didn’t do that,” she commented, as she turned to stand on the edge of the tiny porch looking out into the rain. “We’re miles and miles from anywhere. Who’s going to break in?”

“No one,” Trixie answered, as she skipped down the stairs and spun around in the rain. “Let’s take that path down to the lake. I’ll race you!”

Honey squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, then followed her friend out of the dubious shelter of the cabin and into the great outdoors. Soon, all three squelched and slid down the muddy path to the nearby lake. Overhead, the tree branches sagged with the weight of water, the excess dribbling down onto the three young women as they ran past.

“Oh! I’m absolutely drenched,” Honey commented, as they emerged onto the shore. “What were we going to do, once we got here?”

Trixie shrugged and walked out onto the short pier. “It’s nice here. Let’s sit down for a minute.”

“It’s still raining,” Di pointed out, from her place near the tree-line.

“You’re already wet.” Trixie dropped down onto the very end of the pier and dangled her legs over the end. “And I want to catch my breath before we run back up again.”

“Catch your breath?” Honey sat down beside her. “You’re not puffing!”

“You know what I mean.” Trixie leaned back on her hands and gazed across the stretch of water, its surface dimpled by the still-falling rain. “It’s nice here.”

Di let out a sigh as she settled beside them. “It would have been nicer if it wasn’t raining. And if the male half of the club had been able to come, too.”

“I don’t know about that.” Trixie grinned. “I kind of like the girls weekend thing we’ve got going. We couldn’t exactly have done this with the boys watching.”

Honey laughed. “Since your shirt is completely see-through? No, we couldn’t. At least, not without your brothers objecting.”

“As it is, I don’t care,” Trixie declared, swinging her arms wide, to the general inconvenience of both her friends.

Just below them, something dropped into the water with a plop.

“Whatever that was, I hope it wasn’t important.” Di peered after the object, but between the darkness of the water and its broken surface, she could see nothing.

“It’s probably just a pebble,” Trixie answered. “Hey, let’s go for a walk along the shore and then I’ll race you both back to the cabin.”

“Up that slope? With the mud and the slipperiness?” Di shook her head. “No, thanks!”

Trixie rolled her eyes, but did not press the issue. They took a short walk, then made their way slowly back up the hill to the cabin.

“I’m glad we did that, but it’ll be good to get dry,” Honey commented, as they crossed the small clearing to the front door. She thrust her hand into her pocket and froze. “Oh, no!”

“What is it?” Di asked, gripping Honey’s arm. “Please, please tell me you’ve got the key.”

Meanwhile, Honey began to frantically pat all over her shorts, then to look down at the ground around them.

“We’re miles from anywhere, Honey,” Di pointed out, rather unnecessarily. “We’re all soaking wet and splattered with mud. There’s no one here but us. My car keys are inside that dilapidated shack they had the nerve to rent to us as a cabin. And no one is going to miss us until the day after tomorrow. We need that key!”

“I know!” Honey wailed. “But I’m horribly afraid that that was the thing that fell in the lake.”

The three of them stared at each other for a long moment.

“What are we going to do now?” Diana wondered.

To be continued? Perhaps, by you…

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