EXTRACT FOR
Harriet
(Kelly Addams)

"I'm Enid." the woman was probably late twenties. Maybe a couple of years younger than me Harriet thought. Instantly she liked the young bar owner, there was openness to her character that inspired confidence. Her body shape was somehow angular, not that she was overweight in any way, she merely looked heavy duty. 

Butch? Harriet had wondered before discarding the notion. Enid was feminine despite her awkward frame and certainly never displayed any lesbian signs. Big Boned was an expression that came to mind, John used it often to describe those local girls who were decidedly plain and bulked up by heavy digging in the fields, they were women but without any grace or finesse.

So Enid isn't a dyke I'm pretty sure she decided, she probably moved here from a rural area, hence the muscles.

"I'm from the west," Enid had revealed as the two women began to chat and develop a friendship, "Fort Portal on the border with Congo... well, a small farming village just outside the city."

Farming, Harriet smiled, she had been correct about her new friend and began to relax.

She finished her first soda and watched the traffic pass on the unmade road beside the bar. The place was a room opening straight onto the street. Outside there was just sufficient space for a couple of plastic chairs, inside a small makeshift bar made of rough-hewn wood stood across one corner, at the side ran a wooden bench and a single low table. The bar was as basic as was possible to find, and inside Harriet a feeling of anticipation welled. So basic it was guaranteed there would be no toilet facilities.

"Damn," she whispered as her second soda reached the half way mark, "I need to pee!"

Enid nodded and stood. "Follow me, it isn't ideal but it's all we have here." 

Beside the bar ran a narrow passage, Enid pointed to the end. "Turn left as though you're going behind my place, then you'll see the ablution block."

Harriet knew exactly what Enid meant, it was common place in slums type areas. Usually it was a small concrete space, sometimes with walls for modesty, more usually without. There the local residents would take a basin of water and shower, the same space was also used by patrons of the various small bars as a toilet. Not hygienic, but possibly perfect for me she giggled as taking a step forward Enid suddenly grasped her arm.

"Be careful. I have to warn you there's a guy who is always peeping through his window, everyone complains about him but the police just say he has a right to look out of his window, which I guess is true. It's just that his window almost faces the place directly, the guy is a pervert, but he's never done anything serious. Just warning you to keep the right hand side, he can't see you from there."

A very familiar shiver ran through Harriet, this had been a scouting trip to find potential places to return to after dark with John. But now her new friend had just informed her that there was a voyeur lurking where she was about to urinate.

This couldn't be more perfect she told herself as she tiptoed down the passage as Enid returned to her bar and a new customer.