He woke up to the sound of a garbage truck grumbling by directly outside his window. He opened his eyes and looked to his right where Ruby was sleeping peacefully. Sather rolled over on his left side and pushed in the screen of his alarm clock so that it glowed blueish green and briefly illuminated his face and the darkness around him. It was 4:47 AM.
That was how most mornings started. Even the whirring sound of white noise on their sound machine couldn't drown out the traffic that passed in front of the Crest at random hours of the day or night. The walls were very thin. Sometimes he could even hear the conversations of people walking below their window on the sidewalks. Drunk people coming from O'Leary's Bar passed by throughout the night and were often yelling or slurring the words of a song.
Their apartment was on the third floor of the building, which made it very easy to hear what was going on in the street. Standing on the sidewalk in front of the building, their windows were almost directly in the center of the other windows.
It consisted, mainly, of one room. The living room, dining area, and kitchen were all combined into a small amount of space. To say the least, there was not much privacy. When you first walk in, you pass by a coat closet on your left before entering the "open floor plan" of the main room. On the right is the kitchen with wooden countertops and white appliances. The living area consists of an oversized chair, a couch, a rug, and an old stereo surrounded by CD shelves and bookcases. The stereo is covering up a hole in the wall where a TV might go. There is a small round table with three chairs in the kitchen. On the opposite side of the kitchen across the room, there is the archway into the bedroom (They were told that there was never a door there to begin with and now they see no need for one). To the left of the archway is the door to the bathroom. All of the rooms are average sized, except for the bathroom, which is tiny.
It was the perfect size for husband and wife, even if it didn't consist of much. The furniture was sparse but the few pieces that were there looked traditional and were made of dark, rich wood. The CD shelves and bookcases were messy but somehow Sather knew where each and every one of his beloved CD's were.
The oversized chair had been worn from old age and usage. It had a curve in the seat where he would usually find Ruby sitting and writing or drawing as the day wore on.
Monday, September 29, 2014
Sunday, September 28, 2014
A Year and A Half Later
They almost always kept their windows open, even with the AC on in the summertime. Sather normally wouldn't mind it, save for the steamy, humid air of the permeating fog that drifted into the apartment that was left over from the rain the night before.
He called out to the living room, "Ruby, is the air O.K.?"
"It's perfect, darling. Is it bothering you? I know the fog must be sticky and humid today. Do you mind?"
He looked out from the archway into the bedroom, smiled, and shook his head to say no. Ruby smiled back and combed her dark auburn hair with her fingers. She was truly beautiful. She had big, dark green eyes and a wide smile that made her freckles stand out against her skin.
And he couldn't let her go. She was one of the only people he had ever trusted. They married 5 years back when they were still in Wales and were happily so until she was diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension 3 years later. She became too exhausted to walk up stairs and was experiencing stabbing chest pains by the time she visited the doctor.
Six months after the diagnose, Sather moved to Maplewood Crest and Ruby came along with him.
Later on...
After stepping out of the shower and running a towel over his hair a few times, Sather got dressed and picked up the paper menu from Arab Palace.
He walked into the living room and past the chair where Ruby was sitting. "Would you like anything from Arab Palace tonight? I'm about to call"
"No, darling, I'm fine," she replied.
He called the number on the menu and ordered shawarma and fattoush with a side of hummus and pita bread.
"Your order will be ready in 10 minutes, sir."
"Thank you."
At 7:10 he grabbed his wallet and headed down the stairs of the apartment building. He passed by a few drunks who must've gotten lost walking out of the Cork and Dagger, the underground pub held in the basement of Maplewood Crest. They're all stumbling and talking inaudibly as he walks by. As he exits the building, he can hear music and laughter from the strip club a block away, which hosts "Comedy Night" every once in a while with a man named Jimmy.
After he pays for his food, he walks out of the restaurant and crosses the street to return home.
He called out to the living room, "Ruby, is the air O.K.?"
"It's perfect, darling. Is it bothering you? I know the fog must be sticky and humid today. Do you mind?"
He looked out from the archway into the bedroom, smiled, and shook his head to say no. Ruby smiled back and combed her dark auburn hair with her fingers. She was truly beautiful. She had big, dark green eyes and a wide smile that made her freckles stand out against her skin.
And he couldn't let her go. She was one of the only people he had ever trusted. They married 5 years back when they were still in Wales and were happily so until she was diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension 3 years later. She became too exhausted to walk up stairs and was experiencing stabbing chest pains by the time she visited the doctor.
Six months after the diagnose, Sather moved to Maplewood Crest and Ruby came along with him.
Later on...
After stepping out of the shower and running a towel over his hair a few times, Sather got dressed and picked up the paper menu from Arab Palace.
He walked into the living room and past the chair where Ruby was sitting. "Would you like anything from Arab Palace tonight? I'm about to call"
"No, darling, I'm fine," she replied.
He called the number on the menu and ordered shawarma and fattoush with a side of hummus and pita bread.
"Your order will be ready in 10 minutes, sir."
"Thank you."
At 7:10 he grabbed his wallet and headed down the stairs of the apartment building. He passed by a few drunks who must've gotten lost walking out of the Cork and Dagger, the underground pub held in the basement of Maplewood Crest. They're all stumbling and talking inaudibly as he walks by. As he exits the building, he can hear music and laughter from the strip club a block away, which hosts "Comedy Night" every once in a while with a man named Jimmy.
After he pays for his food, he walks out of the restaurant and crosses the street to return home.
Part II
The golden days of Maplewood were long gone. What used to be a beautiful park with a willow tree that whispered in the wind was now a patch of grass in a disappointing urban metropolis and shaggy grey trees that suffered and fried in the late dog days of summer.
Everyone suffered from the heat. The drunks got drunker and the weird got weirder.
Although the tenants of Maplewood Crest were strange and out-of-the-ordinary events often occurred, the town turned into a grey misshapen place where nothing unexpected had happened for years.
Sather was standing at the water-smeared window as the humidity and his breath fogged the inside. He was watching the piles of boxes being moved into the van below. The boxes were soggy and the armchair was soaked from the torrential rain that had been pouring down since 6 AM.
Something caught his eye and he shifted his gaze further down the street on his right: a little boy, no older than 10, was zooming down the street with his arms stretched out on either side of him. His Superman cape was flying behind him as he raced down the sidewalk towards the apartment building. In the next 5 seconds, the boy noticed something rather... unexpected. The boy tripped on his shoelace and went flying about 3 feet up the sidewalk and crashed face first into the concrete. He quickly got up, dusted off his knees, and laid his eyes directly on Sather in his window.
Sather quickly turned away and said something to Ruby. She nodded and smiled affectionately at him.
As for the looks of this strange man to the little boy, he probably thought Sather looked like a pale and angry ghost with a scowl.
Actually, he was young, in his early 30's with very dark black hair that he wore in a classic haircut. It wasn't shaggy and untamed, it was well groomed and brushed back. Most days, he wore a button down shirt with expensive looking pants that were usually some form of grey or black.
His voice wasn't rough or particularly gruff or scratchy. It had a smooth, inkiness to it and was so slippery and calm that people either listened to and became indulged in, or completely ignored. He had a Welsh slant to his words that was notable for its fast, highly accented manner of speech with a soft, lyrical sound to it.
His skin tone was somewhere in the range of pale white, but with a light and "alive" tone to it (as opposed to a sickly green pale color).
Overall, he was a gentleman, an average man from the Victorian age in the wrong town. Originally from Wales, he was used to the countryside and the rolling hills and the wells of water and the slow manner of townsfolk. But Maplewood wasn't a huge step up from where he was from. People still milled around and didn't appear to have any specific place to go in the grey city of Maplewood.
Except for, that little boy who tripped on his shoelace and saw this man standing in the window.
Everyone suffered from the heat. The drunks got drunker and the weird got weirder.
Although the tenants of Maplewood Crest were strange and out-of-the-ordinary events often occurred, the town turned into a grey misshapen place where nothing unexpected had happened for years.
Sather was standing at the water-smeared window as the humidity and his breath fogged the inside. He was watching the piles of boxes being moved into the van below. The boxes were soggy and the armchair was soaked from the torrential rain that had been pouring down since 6 AM.
Something caught his eye and he shifted his gaze further down the street on his right: a little boy, no older than 10, was zooming down the street with his arms stretched out on either side of him. His Superman cape was flying behind him as he raced down the sidewalk towards the apartment building. In the next 5 seconds, the boy noticed something rather... unexpected. The boy tripped on his shoelace and went flying about 3 feet up the sidewalk and crashed face first into the concrete. He quickly got up, dusted off his knees, and laid his eyes directly on Sather in his window.
Sather quickly turned away and said something to Ruby. She nodded and smiled affectionately at him.
As for the looks of this strange man to the little boy, he probably thought Sather looked like a pale and angry ghost with a scowl.
Actually, he was young, in his early 30's with very dark black hair that he wore in a classic haircut. It wasn't shaggy and untamed, it was well groomed and brushed back. Most days, he wore a button down shirt with expensive looking pants that were usually some form of grey or black.
His voice wasn't rough or particularly gruff or scratchy. It had a smooth, inkiness to it and was so slippery and calm that people either listened to and became indulged in, or completely ignored. He had a Welsh slant to his words that was notable for its fast, highly accented manner of speech with a soft, lyrical sound to it.
His skin tone was somewhere in the range of pale white, but with a light and "alive" tone to it (as opposed to a sickly green pale color).
Overall, he was a gentleman, an average man from the Victorian age in the wrong town. Originally from Wales, he was used to the countryside and the rolling hills and the wells of water and the slow manner of townsfolk. But Maplewood wasn't a huge step up from where he was from. People still milled around and didn't appear to have any specific place to go in the grey city of Maplewood.
Except for, that little boy who tripped on his shoelace and saw this man standing in the window.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)