The second window
"Hello Mrs Smith what can I help you with today?"
She smiles and picks up a few items. Tim told me what happened, how he kissed her and felt her up, and then her husband turns round and cancels the fence.
"I was wondering if you would like a part time job here in my shop."
She looks at me for the first time.
"Well your husband goes back on the oil rigs in Scotland soon, doesn't he?"
"Well, yes he leaves tomorrow, but I don't really need a job, I have one already. I start in two weeks; it is why we moved over this side of the town."
"Oh, may I ask where to?"
"Yes I'm a teacher; I'll be working at the primary school round the corner."
My eyes flutter like they do when something unexpected comes up.
"You're a teacher?" I ask, thinking I may have misheard.
"Yes, I start after the summer holidays."
She leaves my shop and I call Tim.
"I've got good news Tim, Sylvia's husband goes back to the oil rigs off the Scottish coast tomorrow. So with him out of the way, you could go see Mrs Smith, and tell her you had taken out a loan to get her fence panels. You might even get something more."
I hear him rub the stubble on his chin like he does when he is thinking.
"I don't think she'll be swayed so easily."
"Tim, Mrs Smith is a teacher, show her some of those photos you have, I'm sure she wouldn't like them being sent to the school the day she starts there."
"Well fuck my old boots that is some good news, for me rather than her."
The first window
I'm out walking again in the dark. It's like my own little world, where I have no distractions. I round the corner and go up the road towards the playground. I sit on the swing in the dark, with just the moonlight and stars for company, but I don't mind. It's like my thoughts are shared with them, they listen as I imagine what it would be like to be with Sylvia.
I can think better in the darkness. It's been a few days since I saw Tim cuddling and kissing Sylvia. I realise now she just accepts men touching her, and calling out to her.
I've seen my mum give that Oscar a kiss. He had his arm round her waist, and he slapped her ass as they moved apart. That was a year ago, I came back home when I was supposed to be at Danny's for the night, because I had forgotten my PJ's. Mum didn't know I saw what happened. She ushered me quickly up the stairs when she saw me, and got my step dad. He came out of the bedroom doing up his shirt. Mum said he spilt some wine on it, and that Liz from down the road was cleaning the wine stain off his other shirt. Liz was sat on mum's bed. My step dad took me back to Danny's parent's house in the car.
I think about Oscar kissing my mum and slapping her ass again, and that is what makes me think women like mum, and Sylvia just let it happen. I think there must be something more to it, but I've watched the Carry On films, with the guys slapping the women's backsides, and making suggestive comments too. Then there is the Miss World contest, where the girls smile as they walk around in bikinis for everyone to see. Only tonight I watched some of the boxing, and those women step in the ring with not much on, and hold up boards with the number of the round on, they get whistled at, and they just smile. I guess it's just normal, and Sylvia doesn't mind or object to being whistled at, and now it seems she lets Tim give her a kiss and a cuddle. Well if it happens on programs on the telly, then it must be okay, right?
I'm off home now, and I pass Tim, he smiles at me, and I smile back. I walk on, and then I hear the sound of a gate opening, and I know it is Sylvia's gate by the squeak. I watch Tim go up her path. Mum and Adam my step dad talked about Sylvia's husband going to work on the oil rigs in Scotland, and now Tim is visiting her. I wonder if that really should be happening.
The second window
"May I have a word Mrs Smith?"
"Um, if it is about us cancelling the fence then, I, I'm sorry, we can't afford it at the moment."
"You see the thing is I have already bought the fence panels, before your husband cancelled. I'm already out of pocket. Look maybe we could talk it over in private."
She moves aside and lets me in.
The first window
I don't understand this visiting people at odd hours. It's like the time I saw Mrs Jackson over the road, go into Mrs White's house, and 5 minutes later Mrs White went over to Mrs Jackson's house. Mum is friends with them and I told her what I had seen. My stepfather lifted the paper up, like he does when he doesn't want to get involved in conversations. Mum said not to spy on people. I said I wasn't spying and she told me to forget it. I've seen it again since then, the same thing, and now that man Tim, is visiting Sylvia, late at night, while her husband is away.
The second window
He's sat there looking all smug. His arm is over the back of the couch, and his legs are stretched out and crossed at the ankles. He smiles as I put the coffee down for him that I didn't want to make. I'm having flashbacks to the way he touched me in the garden, and the kiss he placed on my lips.
He pats the couch; I hesitate, and then sit on the edge, as far as I can away from him.
"You know Mrs Smith, I like you, but like I said I've already bought the fence panels. Hank has cancelled some work he had lined up, so he isn't going to be happy either. So it is best we come round and do the work as planned."
"Well, um, perhaps, it would be okay. But I can't pay the whole lot out straight away. I can manage half."
He sips his coffee, "well I'll have to charge you interest, unless we come to a little deal. Perhaps you could put the telly on, I like watching the box when I'm working out a problem."
I put the telly on and I look at the armchair, I could go and sit there, but I don't, I sit on the couch, and stare at the telly. I can feel myself shaking.
