The rain is pouring outside like mad. The street is empty of walking pedestrians except for moving automobiles. Claps of thunder echo across the dark underbelly of the sky. It’s been pouring like this since the new week began.
It is past eight in the evening. Soft music is coming off the little radio by the head of my bed but my mind is barely hearing it. I am at my usual position by my bedroom window with a tall glass of Johnny Walker in my hand waiting for her to arrive. A month has almost gone by since I started watching her, through this same window, of course. I don’t even bother going out on a lonely female hunting night with my work pals anymore. What the hell, I doubt if they’d understand why.
Already my body nerves are up and wired. You’d think I’m under the influence of a narcotic if you see me right now, but it’s not like that – I don’t even drink much and I’ve always been scared of a needle – but anytime I see that lady doing her thing …
She lives in the twin apartment complex across the street from mine.
It is a three-storey cream-coloured building and we both live on the top floor (the top floor with a best view, as the Building Manager calls it) with our room facing each other. Well-trimmed elm trees like transit soldiers on leave stand in front of the sidewalk of both buildings with their branches nearly over-shrouding the road, giving the avenue a sort of distinguished aplomb. Though the rent is staggering, but I still love the place. I sip my drink and continue to wait.
Several cars have long driven past and some have stopped in front of the building but neither of them carried the lady I seek. For a second I begin to contemplate failure: perhaps she isn’t coming back this night … or maybe she already has sneaked into the building without me noticing. Still her room is dark; there is no one there, I’m sure of it. I continue my watch.
A car has just stopped father down the street. A taxicab. I can’t see the person coming down from it because of the beam of its bright lights, but I’m very much patient. Once more my heart begins to beat when my eyes fall on a pair of red high-hilled sandals partly covered by a yellow rain slicker jacket. The taxi soon moves further down the street away from the avenue, and then I get a good picture of the visitor.
It’s her!
I can barely control my happiness; feverish excitement courses all through my veins. It is really she. Her hair is hidden beneath the hood of the rain slicker and though I can barely make out her face from over here, I can still very much tell that it is her.