EXTRACT FOR
Tempting Fate
(Anna Mann)

Sophia turned the corner, then stalled.

"Sorry." she whispered as she stepped around the woman that she had almost bowled over in her haste.

She looks like a hooker. Sophia almost kicked herself for the naivety of her statement. Of course she was a hooker. What respectable girl stood on a street corner wearing a skirt so short it left no illusions that she was not wearing panties? Her boobs were thrust up so tight that half a nipple showed over the top of a woefully inadequate bra. And her make-up, subtle was never a word she would hear whispered, it looked like she'd applied it with a trowel.

"Well, you're not working." the girl replied as she looked Sophia up and down, "So what is a chick like you doing out alone, here, at this time?"

"Not that it's any of your business, but I have boyfriend issues."

"And you thought you'd find him cruising around here?" the prostitute chuckled. "You probably will see him if you wait long enough."

Sophia shook her head, the sinking feeling inside confirmed the words that she had just heard, the hooker was probably right, for all she knew the whore in front of her had probably felt Dave inside her too.

Deciding not to prolong the pain she began to walk away, only to stop and turn.

"It's tempting fate, what you're doing!" the voice behind her rung out.

"What?" Sophia asked as she turned back to the painted whore.

"You, out alone and going that way," she shook her head, "No one walks that way alone, not even me and I know how to handle myself. We call that way Ambush Alley."

Sophia snorted. She'd had just about as much as she could handle that night. Let some creepy guy try chatting her up as she walked home, she almost welcomed the opportunity to vent her fury. And anyway, I know where she means and it isn't bad. She had passed that way many times during the day. It was simply a narrowing of the path as it passed the playing fields of the local school. Overhead street lamps were dotted along the route. True, there were lots of bushes along the path but no one would dare try anything with all those lights shining down.

"I can handle myself too." she snapped, and then spun around and trotted on. I can handle myself she insisted, because every man regardless of size had a definite weakness, a swift kick in the balls would always stop them in their tracks. It will be fine she told herself, then looked ahead into the gloom and swallowed hard.