Her gentle voice carried easily in the still June air, but I only opened my eyes for a moment.
“Come and play with me?” This time I turned on to my side and looked at her.
“Come and play with me – I’ve just had a message saying that XX can’t come and I need to have a game.”
I looked at her, her short white skirt, her white top and trainers with just a hint of sock under her ankle; holding her racket eagerly, expectantly.
I laughed. “Won’t be much of a game for you!”
“That’s OK, I just need to play someone and there’s no one else around.”
“OK. I’ll come down,” I said, as I got up from the lounger I’d been lying on. My flowery shirt and khaki shorts not really making me look the part for a strenuous game of tennis.
“I’ve got a spare racket and I won’t play too hard.”
For 10 minutes we rallied with her getting increasingly frustrated with my poor shots. I knew how much she wanted to play and the winning was a big part of why she was here at the club.
“Shall we play a few games – see who wins?” I said.
I could see she was pleased. “You serve,” she said. As usual, I got few first serves in and in no time I was three games down. I could see she was happy, knowing that she was beating me.
Game four and she served an almost perfect first serve but in a rare moment of skill, I played a better side line return and she leaped across to play it back but slipped and tumbled to the ground. I laughed and said, “Get up, that shot was too good even for you!”
But she didn’t move. I ran to her. “Are you OK?” But I could see she wasn’t.
“I think I’ve sprained my ankle.”
“Let me see,” I lifted her up and carried her to the old wooden bench that sits at the side of the court.
“I’ll need to take your shoe off,” I said, and I slowly undo the lace and slipped it from her foot. I then gently pulled down the sock. Her foot looked OK but she was clearly in pain. I took her foot and lifted it to my mouth. “Maybe this will help,” I said and stared gently sucking her toes and licking between them.
After a couple of minutes she said, “I think my knee hurts as well.” My hand stroked it and again I start licking it. My hands were going all along her leg, massaging and caressing, hoping to ease the pain.
“Please check here,” she murmured, and lifting her bottom forward on the seat with one finger, she pulled aside her white panties.