I was 26 years old and studying for my PhD at the Drexel University in Philadelphia. My apartment was in the top floor of a brownstone apartment in Center City neighborhood. Below me in the remainder of the building lived a middle-aged couple, Joe and Janette, and their teen-aged daughter Annabel. Joe and Janette were both lawyers working in an estate planning department of a large firm. They worked long hours and loved to cook good meals and hang around the house on the weekends. Their daughter Annabel was gorgeous. Tall, dirty blonde hair, small chested, with the tight body of an athlete as she was on the high school track team.
We didn't interact too frequently just to redeliver mail that went in the wrong mailbox, to exchange pleasantries on the stoop, and very occasionally to go down to a BBQ in the back garden where they had exclusive use. It was at those BBQs that I got to know Annabel as not only a beautiful person on the outside but also one on the inside. She was gregarious, warm, funny, and very bright. In fact, the family as a whole was great fun to be around and I always looked forward to getting an invitation around the major holidays as they knew my family was half a world away.
Fast forward a few years and I was working on putting the finishing touches on my dissertation and preparing for my defense. I was all business and I rarely came out of the apartment except to replenish supplies of coffee and food just to keep me going. Annabel was also finishing up her senior year of high school and considering where to go for college. She'd got into all the universities she applied to so the world was her oyster. But sadly tragedy was to strike in early spring.
Joe and Janette had traveled down to the Caribbean to take part in a conference and had died in a car accident when their poorly maintained taxi has gone into a ravine. The first I heard of their deaths was from Annabel herself. I found her weeping on the front steps of the brownstone and asked if she wanted to talk. Then the whole story came and she started sobbing in my arms. I didn't really know what to do except be there and lend an ear. In the end, I took some time out of my schedule to help Annabel host the wake and prepare for the funeral. It turned out Annabel didn't have many relatives, certainly none that lived nearby. But fortunately for Annabel, Joe and Janette has planned everything out in the event of their deaths as you would expect from estate lawyers. Annabel was well taken care of financially - she owned the brownstone outright and has a healthy trust fund besides.
Since Annabel was going to turn 18 in several weeks the issue of guardianship was something of a moot point. The State of Pennsylvania and Family Services certainly didn't want another mouth to feed so they were quite happy to sign off on a waiver for her to take care of herself in the coming weeks until she reached formal adulthood. He birthday passed without mention, I can imagine Annabel didn't feel like celebrating something that her parent's would have been so involved in had they been alive.
Annabel tried to stay positive and not fall into depression but I could see the situation was taking a toll on her. So I made every excuses to check in on her and drop off extra food and the like. About a month after her birthday, as I was heading out with my bike to take a ride up the Schuylkill River, I heard Annabel call out and asked if she could join me. Of course I happily said "yes" and within minutes I found myself racing behind her trying to keep up. The view of the river was nice but the view of Annabel's backside in a pair of biking shorts was even nicer. I didn't mind at all following! We went pass the Art Museum, the Boathouses, up Kelly Drive until Manayunk, then crossed over the river to start heading downstream back to the house. But before we got going too far I asked her if she'd like to take a detour to Fairmount Park and the Japanese House. She'd never been before and found the gardens and building absolutely charming. I took my time explaining the construction, the tea room, the gardens, and the history of the place. Afterwards we sat on a nearby bench taking in the view of the Japanese gardens while snacking and sipping from our water bottles.
Annabel looked at me with a nervous expression that I don't think I'd ever seen before and then started talking: "You've been my rock this last couple of months. You're one of the good guys, you know that right?"
"I guess so. I wanted to help out - it just felt right," I modestly replied.
"This whole experience has made me rethink my life and my priorities. It's not that I'm going to abandon college but just that friends and family have to come first. I know now that life can be cut short"
"Very true," I replied lending my ear once again, hoping to draw Annabel out.
"You know I had a crush on you since the day you moved in."
"I didn't know that" I said. "That's very flattering coming from someone as special as you."
"Well I've decided that you're going to be my boyfriend, what do you think about that?"
