It looked like it was going to be a sunny day, but Jane had always been a cautious girl. "I'd best take my umbrella, just in case." she thought as she prepared to leave her apartment.
Moments later, umbrella in hand, she stroke confidently down the hallway to the elevator entrance. As always, the smell of boiled cabbage, garlic, spaghetti sauce and several spices and condiments, was still hanging heavily in the air, even though it was morning and the foods responsible for the assorted odours had been served and eaten the night before.
"Jesus Christ all mighty!" she thought, her face taking on a disgruntled scowl. "Don't these goddam savages I have to share a building with ever eat food that doesn't stink the place up for weeks at a time? I feel like I'm living behind a twenty four hour flop house diner that never closes the back door! Some day, I'm going to get the hell out of this stinking apartment, in this garbage can city, full of unwashed dullards and go to live in the countryside. I'll be a member of the local gentry and the only aromas filling the air when I wake up in the morning, will be those of fresh baked rolls, country bacon and farm fresh eggs."
In her heart, Jane knew it would never happen, but like everybody else, she felt entitled to her dreams. She was an attractive woman in her thirties, unmarried, with no romantic prospects and her loneliness and need for love was becoming more apparent every day. She was becoming more bitter and cynical than she'd ever been in her teens and twenties and she longed for a relationship that would provide the love and companionship that she had been looking for all of her life. She'd had affairs over the years, but invariably they were short term. Most of the men she met were pompous fools whose self valuation far exceeded the worth she ascribed to them. Their selfishness in the bedroom left her cold and unresponsive and after only a few dates, she would simply stop taking their phone calls.
She stopped in front of the elevator doors and impatiently pressed the ground floor button several times. She looked at her watch and wondered if public transit would be running any more late than usual. She had prepared a special report outlining the sales promotion program for a new product that her company would shortly be introducing and she was anxious to show it to her colleagues and get their feedback. She sighed as she realized that her job was about the only pleasure left in her life. So much so that she enjoyed being on the job more than she enjoyed being at home.
Just then, she was brought back to real time by the sound of the grumbling old elevator clunking to a halt. A few seconds later, she heard the lame ding that accompanied each stop. She looked up as the doors opened and was surprised to see a new face standing patiently at the back. She stepped in quickly and muttered a muted, "Good morning," to the stranger.
"Hello. I'm Jasmine." the stranger replied, eagerly holding out her hand.
"Hi Jasmine." Jane replied as she managed a smile and took the hand of the stranger, "I'm Jane."
While the elevator continued its painfully slow descent to the ground floor, Jane peeked surreptitiously at Jasmine from the corner of her eye. She was black. Actually, a soft and pleasing shade of brown, and spoke with a Caribbean accent. She was quite tall, perhaps 2 inches taller than Jane and had a very pretty face and quite a stunning figure. Her legs were long and shapely and the front of her blouse strained to conceal generous breasts that were putting a noticeable stress on its tiny buttons.
"How long have you lived here Jane?" Jasmine asked with a bright smile.
"Oh Lord! I've been here since the building was erected, about 10 years ago. Sometimes I have trouble believing that I've spent almost a third of my life here."
Jasmine continued, a sparkling white smile adorning her pretty face, "How do you like it?"
"Oh, it's not the Taj Mahal, as you can see, but all in all, I suppose I like it. The rent is reasonable and the tenants are tolerable." then with a giggle added, "Most of the time."
Just then, the elevator clumsily jerked to a halt and the two ladies turned and readied themselves to exit as the doors slowly opened. As they walked to the exit, Jasmine asked, "Which direction do you go to get to work Jane? I have to go up the street and catch the Westbound streetcar."
Jane replied, "Oh, I have to catch the Eastbound streetcar down at the bottom of the street."
A disappointed look flashed across Jasmine's face. "Oh too bad Jane. I'd love to have someone to chat with on the way to work everyday."
With that, the two girls wished each other a pleasant day and headed off in opposite directions.
Apart from the enjoyment Jane got from showing off her newly created marketing plan that morning, it was just another day at the office. By late afternoon, time had slowed almost to a standstill and she was sure that the day would go on forever. When the clock finally hit the 5:00 p.m. mark, Jane began to put on her coat and was counting down the seconds impatiently. For some reason she wanted to get back to her apartment and for the life of her she didn't know why. Most nights, she had to be reminded that it was quitting time and she had a real fear that she might one day be locked in the office overnight. As she finished buttoning her coat, she idly wondered what time the new tenant, Jasmine finished work.
A friend who gave her a ride home from time to time, had to run some errands in another direction so Jane began walking briskly to the streetcar stop. She dreaded having to endure the close quarters and the pushing and shoving that was part and parcel of riding the streetcar. She'd always hated this particular part of her daily commute. The streetcar was invariably filled with noisy, boisterous people and the smell of unwashed bodies and sweat permeated the interior of each vehicle. By the time the creaking old relic arrived at Jane's stop, she was frazzled and more than a tad angry.
As she made her way up her street, she had to walk past the new housing project that had only recently been erected at the intersection. There was the usual gang of unemployed people hanging around the building courtyard, smoking cigarettes and drinking cheap wine from a large jug that was being passed amongst them. Jane glanced through the gate as she made her way up the street. A look of disapproval crossed her face when she saw the boisterous group.
"God dam freeloaders", she muttered under her breath. "Sitting on their asses in subsidized housing, too lazy to work! And who the hell has to pay for it all? Me! That's who!"
She grew more infuriated as she got closer to her building. "One of these days I'm going to kiss this lousy city, with its broken transit system and its swollen underbelly of shiftless people who refuse to work, good bye. I'm going to jump on a Greyhound and disappear over the horizon, leaving this miserable shit hole, full of lazy, smelly, savages, to earn a living for themselves!"
As she approached the front door of her apartment building, she saw a tall female walking towards the building from the other direction. She looked quite lovely in her high heels. She had long shapely legs and a short dress that accentuated her trim figure. She knew right away that it was Jasmine, who was no doubt returning from her job as well.
Jasmine began to smile when she saw Jane approaching. Jane was just as happy to see her and the two smiled warmly back at one another .
