A day with Lena

I'm walking along a path in the meadows with Lena on a sunny day.
We're really doing this!
I just asked Lena to spend the afternoon together and she agreed.

It's nice here. I don't leave the village that often.

Yeah, it's pretty nice.

Where are we going?
Do you already have some place in mind?

Maybe I should have decided where to go.
I'd like to come up with a special place I could show her.
But when I think about it, every place that comes to my mind is a place Bernd showed me.

I could still show her one of these places?
Maybe our lake? No, that would go too far.
What else? I try to come up with something.

So?

Uhm..., no, I don't.

Can I decide where to go? I already got an idea!

Oh, of course. Do you have anything specific in mind?

You'll see!

Lena smiles at me. She's happy to choose the path and can barely hold back from going ahead.

We keep walking and also notice a few branching paths.
But we just stay on the main path.

How did you manage to get rid of Bernd?

We started building a small lair in the forest.
I told him, I was exhausted for today, but he didn't want to stop until it's finished.

Lena laughs.

That's typical for Bernd, isn't it?

Yeah, you already know him better than I thought.

As we walk along the trail, the scenery becomes amazing.
The grass is really growing high here.
And the sun is shining bright.

Lena takes the lead and I mostly follow her.
After a while we reach a real fork in the path.
Lena chooses the left path leading to a forest and runs ahead.
I follow her.

When we reach the forest, the path practically ends.
The ground is only dirt everywhere, but when looking closely, it's noticeable where people usually walk here.

Here we have to go up and down hills and jump above small brooks between the narrow trees.
Lena handles this path very well.

I didn't expect her to choose such dirt paths.
Despite her shy and cautious look, she might like it even dirtier and rougher than Bernd.

Are you sure you know where you are going?

I thought you didn't care. I just wanted to go this way.
But if you don't like it, we could also choose a different path.

No, it's fine. So you don't even have a clear goal.

Lena looks back at me and smiles.
I'm not sure if I'm right. Maybe she just wants to surprise me.

After walking up a steep hill for a while, we finally leave the forest again and reach a huge meadow.
There's not a single tree or visible path around.

We still slightly walk uphill and soon we reach the top of the hill.
From there we have a good view over the landscape. There's a huge valley ahead of us, containing a bunch of rivers and many small forests.
In the middle of the valley there's a village.
And in the distance I can even see the mountains.

This is the place I wanted to show you.
It's really nice, isn't it?

Yeah, it is.

She just sits down and I sit down next to her.

She looks to me, indicating with her hand to come closer.
So I cautiously move toward her until our shoulders touch.
I really like to feel her warmth.

So where did you know this place from?

I've been here with Selia years ago.
I wasn't sure if I'd still find it.
But we're here now.

I can't imagine Selia going paths like these.

She got a little dirty and so didn't want to go there anymore.

Lena has to laugh.

I didn't get dirty, though. At least not much.

Today we also didn't get dirty, so I wonder what she must have done.

Yeah.

She's still smiling and nods.

I decide to enjoy the view for a little longer.
We just keep sitting there looking at the landscape and ocasionally I look to her.
Sometimes, when our eyes meet, we have to smile.

After a while, Lena puts a hand on my knee.

It would be nice if we could do things like this more often.

Yeah, and next time we should take some food with us.

Oh, I got something.

She puts two carrots out of her pocket.

But a real picnic would have been better.

Why carrots?

It's better than nothing. I'd gladly take one.

After eating the carrots, we keep sitting there for a while before we leave.

I wonder if we'll really have a picnic together one day.
I'm afraid we never will.