It was shaping up to be a nice summer on the prairies. Heavy rain in the spring followed by weeks of endless heat made the start of summer unusually humid. The conditions weren't ideal for farming, but nobody seemed to be complaining and crops were on track for a good harvest. School was out and the last of the trucks were arriving to setup for the summer carnival.

Abbi adjusted the waistband of her underwear then stood up and smoothed over her dress. She stepped through the tall grass towards the creek a few feet away then gazed at her reflection in the glassy surface of a small pool of standing water. The face that gazed back was disapproving. Disappointed. She felt ashamed of what she had been doing in the tall grass beside the creek, alone. Disappointed that she couldn't even please herself. She slapped the face in the water, then rinsed her hands before starting the walk home.

The trickling water in the creek could barely be heard behind her as grass and dirt transitioned into faded and broken pavement. There were no houses at that end of the road; just an empty, unattended field. She seemed to identify with that part of the street. It was a road to nowhere. The promise of its future had been abandoned years earlier when the land was declared unfit for development. Her eyes watched the grey weathered asphalt pass under her feet as she slowly made her way home.

"Abbi? Is that you?" her father called out from the kitchen as she entered through the side door.

"Yeah! Just me..."

"Good. Your mom and I are heading to the Legion hall. Uncle Stan had something shipped here so he's going to be stopping by to pick it up. He thinks he'll be here in an hour or so but I can't stick around," her father said. "It's the box at the front door."

"Okay, I'll be home. Like usual," her voice trailed off to a whisper.

Abbi shuffled into the kitchen and dropped into a chair at the table. Her shoulders and back rounded inward as if her body were melting into a ball. Her forearms rested on her legs under the table with her elbows pulled into her stomach only a few inches apart, hands folded together at her knees.

"Were you having a fight with a tree?" her father asked as he pulled a dry leaf and a bit of grass from her long auburn hair.

"Yeah. I kicked its ass," she replied as she watched her father toss the leaf into the compost bin. "Hey, that was my trophy from the kill."

"The carnival starts tomorrow. You should really make an effort to go this year."

"I don't think that's going to happen."

"I'd love to stick around and change your mind, but I gotta run and get your mother. We won't be home for dinner. There's some left-over pizza in the fridge if you want it, just leave me a couple slices for my lunch tomorrow."

"Bye, dad," Abbi said as her father stepped out the door on the side of the house.

After sitting motionless for several minutes, Abbi stood up from the table and headed towards her bedroom to read or watch TV for a while. She felt another leaf fall from her hair and decided to have a shower to get rid of any other unwanted debris, silently wishing she could wash away her past.

She ran the water to let it warm up as she stripped off her clothing and intentionally avoided looking at the reflection of her naked body in the mirror. If asked, she could note a dozen flaws in her appearance on a single breath that any other observer would not have noticed or classified as flaws. She was slender but would say she was a twig. She would say she was flat chested and what breasts she had were odd and lopsided. A kinder critic wouldn't consider A cup breasts flat and as for being lopsided or misshapen, he might happily take a closer look before forming an official opinion.

The one flaw on her list that others might agree with would be the way she carried herself in a perpetual slouch. It wasn't just the rounding of the shoulders and curved back that detracted from her natural beauty. The ever-present depressed look on her face flowed into the way she spoke and avoided contact of any kind with anyone. The bright green eyes couldn't be seen through half closed eyelids and her constant downward gaze. The way she moved and walked coupled with unrelenting self-deprecation produced a lonely shell of a person.

Abbi had aspirations. She dreamt of the day she would move on with her life. Until then she avoided finding a steady job. She wasn't lazy in the slightest. Her issue was that any job in town an eighteen-year-old girl that barely made it through high school would be qualified to do would involve interacting with other people, or removing her clothing on a stage, followed by interacting with horny people. Her father would occasionally find her work cleaning offices on weekends and evenings after workers had left the premises. She had quit her job at his auto body shop when the occasional interaction with customers and coworkers became too much for her to handle.

Before she could step into the flowing water, the doorbell rang. She shut off the faucet then slipped into her baggy clothing and rushed down to greet her Uncle Stan.

"Abbi! Love the hair style. Chic and modern. You didn't have to get dress so fancy for me," he said as he glared at her attire and started to point.

Abbi looked away and laughed, "Yeah, the backwards shirt is a new trend I'm starting."

"Are you getting out much?" he asked. "Seeing people?"

"Sure, I went for a walk this afternoon. Does my reflection in the creek count?"

"You know what I mean," he said with sincere concern.

She silently answered by casting her eyes towards the floor.

After a long period of silence, Stan said, "So, you got some boxes for me?"

"Just this one," she said as she pointed to the package.

"I'm just going to have a quick peek," Stan said as she popped open a pocketknife. "I expected two boxes."

"What's in it?"

"Did you ever go into the fortune teller's tent when you went to the carnival?"

"Sort of. I never went inside, it creeped me out."

"These are the flasks she puts her magic potions in," he said as she pulled one of the egg-shaped flasks from the box. "Ahhh, hell, these look like shit. First, we lose our fortune teller, now we've got this... crap..."

"What happened?"

"The manufacturer went out of business, so we had to get them made by someone else."

"No, with the fortune teller. Was it the same woman from when I was a kid? She made the tent extra creepy."

"Yup. She was with us for fifteen years. She fell and broke her leg, plus she's got some sort of reaction from something and suddenly she's getting married. I got someone new coming to replace her. So how 'bout you? Are you going to come this year? I can leave some passes at the gate for you and a couple friends. All-inclusive passes."

"Does it include friends?"

Stan paused for a moment, then moved in close and kiss the top of Abbi's head. He stepped back and begged her to come. She made no promises other than to try.

AN - Thanks for reading. Now that you've met the first of the story's flawed characters... let's meet the other. On to chapter 2!