Tuesday, March 16, 2010

In a Minute

It's a morning like any other. My usual habit is to shower first and then sit down and eat a bowl of cereal. Nothing grand or exciting, just what I do. Well, on this particular morning, as I sit down and begin to eat, I see a woman. She's walking past my window. See, I live in the basement of my apartment building, so my windows are at ground level. When this woman walks past and turns to look at me, she sees me quite clearly at my kitchen table with a spoon jammed halfway into my mouth. She just stands there a moment, looking at me. I can almost see gears turning, steam sprouting and hear the call of a foreman demanding more power from the engines and to damn the torpedoes.

That little percolation of thought comes together and she smiles at me. Very, very creepy smile, no less.

Doing a quick sideways look out of the corner of my eyes, I'm checking to actually see if it is me that she's smiling at. Oh, but she's got to approach my kitchen window to knock almost politely on it. I've still got a spoon in my mouth and a bowl of corn flakes in front of me. I open the window.

"Hi," she says.

"Uh, hi?"

"Um, do you think you could help me? I need to move this thing up the stairs to the third floor and I can't lift it."

"Can I finish my breakfast first?"

She agrees, so I agree. I close my window and resume eating as she disappears back the way she'd come. What a way to introduce yourself to a neighbor. The item, in the end, wasn't that heavy. Although the look I got while eating breakfast, yeah, that was still somewhat creepy. I should probably eat with the blinds down.

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