I think I might be concussed?

Ah, this is obviously some strange usage of the word 'safe' that I wasn't previously aware of. >> Arthur Dent (Douglas Adam's Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy)


“Luce…there is no way this is safe,” Jill hissed from where they were standing on the river bank.

“Kids do it all the time. They’ve been doing it for years,” Lucy rolled her eyes. She slipped her thoroughly impractical high heeled sandals off. She shimmied out of the mini skirt she was wearing and pulled her tank top over her head. Underneath she was wearing a lace bra and panties. Victoria Secret’s Summer line.

“It’s dark and that rope doesn’t look very sturdy,” Jill continued to argue. She reached out; tip toeing and stretching to grasp the tail of the rope. She tugged on it and shook her head then quickly stepped back. “No way, Luce.”

“Chicken,” Lucy grinned. It was that smile that crinkled her nose, the one that Jill knew meant she was about to do something stupid. She jumped off the balls of her feet, caught the rope and wrapped her legs around it. There was a whoop as her weight swung the rope out then back in. She pushed off the tree with her feet hard enough that the apex of the swing came right about the middle of the river. Lucy screamed and let go with a laugh. There was a splash and in the wake of Lucy’s scream and laughter, it was silent. Jill supposed she should be used to that by now. Everything was quiet in the wake of Lucy.

The surface broke with another squealing laugh. “You have to jump in, Jill! The water is amazing.” Lucy’s smile was bright against the dark as she smoothed her hands back from her forehead, slicking her blond hair back.

“There could be rocks or water snakes or alligators,” Jill argued as she edged toward the bank of the river.

“All of which would assuredly eat a tasty Lucy treat as soon as she got in if there were such things. As I am completely uneaten, bitten or concussed, you can be assured there are none of those things,” Lucy teased. “Come in! It’s safe as shoes…or something like that.”

“Houses, Luce. Safe as houses,” Jill grinned as she slipped her Keds off and stuck her toes in the water. She sighed and slipped a little closer to the edge.

“Houses, shoes…whatever. I like shoes better,” Lucy said as she floated on her back, arms outstretched and eyes closed. “Though they really aren’t safe with me.”

“Nothing is safe with you,” Jill said as she slipped up to her calves in the water.

“Not so,” Lucy protested. She was pouting so that it had worked its way into her words. “Safe with me just has an entirely different connotation.”