Chapter 3

“We’re almost there. When I stop are you going to get out and run away?”

“Probably.”

“Why? Are you still scared to be happy?”

“I’m not scared. I’m scarred!” I smiled at the small joke.

“Right. Look Mick, I can offer you a place in life where you will be cared for. You can come home each night and be with someone. You know how much you hate to do things by yourself.”

“What? What makes you think that?”

“Remember? I am smart and sneaky.”

“I think you need to explain this to me.”

“You go out to the movies alone on Tuesday nights. You go to karaoke alone on Monday nights. You don’t do anything else alone because you don’t like it. The movies? You do that because you don’t want people around you because it reminds you of how disconnected from love you really are, and it makes you sad.”

“Your office is in your apartment. You wake up at work. You go to sleep at work. You piss at work, you cook at work, you have nothing else in your life. I am offering you something better.”

She pulled into the parking garage of a nice condo complex. I walked by it every day going to and from my job. When she turned off the car, I got out and walked around to her side of the car and opened her door.

“You haven’t run away?”

“The security gate closed behind us.” I looked at her with a sheepish grin.

“Come on.”

She led the way to the elevator. When we got in, she pushed the button for the first floor and the sixth floor. When the door opened for the first floor, she looked me in the eyes, so deeply.

“This is the ground floor. If you are going to run away this is your best chance.”

“I should.”

“No, you shouldn’t. You should come up with me and see what life is like when it is lived with happiness and stays that way.”

As she was holding the door open, I looked at her and saw the little girl I had helped. I took her hand away from the door and before it had fully closed, Kendi had me in her arms and had her head on my chest. By the time the door opened on the sixth floor, I had my arms around her.

We turned right, a wall of windows on the left, and walked arm in arm to the only door on that side of the building. She pulled out a magnetic keycard and placed it against the pad by the door, there was a click and the door popped open. I followed her in.

I followed ‘She’, now taking the time to really look at her body. The smooth sway of her bottom from left to right. The gentle lift up and drop down at the end of each sway. The only thought going through my head was ‘Fly, meet spider’.

“Please sit on the couch. We need to talk about a few more things.”

She pointed to the couch and walked away. I did as she asked, after talking off my jacket. A few minutes later, Kendi came back out into the living room. She had changed into sweatpants and a long t-shirt. She was still beautiful.

“Mick, I am not going to ask you to make love to me, because I know that you don’t love me. You might someday, or you might never. Sex is not my goal.”

She sat down next to me and put her hand on my thigh.

“Finding out about the life of the man who saved mine, broke my heart. To think that you have had to go through all you have alone, hurts my heart. And I have seen what being alone has done to yours. So, I have to ask a couple of very important questions.”

“OK.”

“First question, do you want to stay here tonight?”

“I thought that was part of your master plan.”

“It is, but it may not be a part of yours.”

“I guess it depends on some other things.”

“OK, second question. Do you want to sleep in my bed with me or in a bed of your own?”

I had to do a quick run through tonight’s chronology.

“I’m singing karaoke in my usual haunt, then I’m sitting in the home of one of the most beautiful women I have ever seen, and I am being asked about the sleeping arrangements. Who would have thought.”

“Which would YOU prefer?”

“I would prefer to sleep in a bed of my own.”

“Third question, do you need pajamas or something else to sleep in?”

“Actually, I sleep in the nude. If you don’t mind.”

“It doesn’t matter to me, if you are not in my bed. It would matter if you were. Come on, I’ll show you to your room.”

She stood and held out her hand. The room she led me to was spacious and had a full bathroom in it. She pulled back the comforter and sheet and sat down.

“There are towels and toiletries in the bathroom. The shower gets hot immediately, so you don’t have to let it run. You can sleep until you wake up, or you can set an alarm. We’ll talk when you get up.”

She stood and walked to the door, pausing, she looked back at me, smiled and said, softly, “Good night”.

The door closed, and I was alone with my own thoughts for the first time all night. I sat on the bed for the longest time. A long yawn broke me out of the empty thoughts ruminating through my head. I got up and stripped, placing my clothes on the bedroom chair. I walked into the bathroom, turned on the shower and stepped into the warm flow. After a good long soak and a scrub with a very nice soap, I got out, dried and went to bed.

Clean, crisp sheets right after a shower are a wonderful thing. My head hit the pillow and I guess I was more tired than I thought, because the next thing I remember, I was waking up. I was fully wide awake, so I rolled over and looked at my phone. It was 11AM. I guessed that we must have gotten here at about 3:30-4AM. We? ‘She’ and I. Was there a ‘we’?

I felt really good and rose to go to the bathroom. Running through the morning ritual this morning included a quick shower to wash off the night. Some mornings I never took a shower. It struck me that the reason was because sometimes I could go for 2-3 days and never see another person. I really was alone. While I was coming to that realization in the shower, I heard a noise and then a voice.

“Good morning, Mick. If you look in the dresser you will find some clean underwear and socks and some polo shirts in the closet. I’ll see you in the kitchen.”

Then the sound of a door closing.

I slowly opened the shower door and peeked out. No one was waiting for me. I was still alone. I guess Kendi wasn’t a total sneak. After drying I walked, naked, out into the bedroom and opened the top drawer of the dresser. There were a number of underwear in various colors, but no tighty-whities. I picked one of a color that I liked and was surprised that it fit like a glove.

The next drawer had socks and the closet had a number of polo shirts. I picked a navy blue one, then pulled on my jeans from the previous night. Kendi was waiting at the kitchen table with her laptop open when I made my appearance.

“Morning Mick, coffee?”

“Sure. Black”

“Sleep good?”

She asked like I had lived with her for years.

“Actually, better than I have in years.”

“Good.”

She looked at me with a knowing smile.

“So, what is the plan for today?”

“I have to do some work. I can do almost all of my job from anywhere that I can get to the internet. I should be finished by about 2pm.”

“What do you want me to do?”

“What would you do if you were at your apartment on a normal day?”

“I guess I would be online reading or writing stuff for work. Since I am off for the week, I don’t have to do any of that.”

“Then I guess we should get you back to your place.”

“Getting rid of me after so much effort?” Did that really sound as sad as the idea felt?

“No, so you can get your computer, and any other stuff you need to stay here for the week.”

“Why don’t I just stay at my place and come over here in the evenings?”

“Because.”

“Because?”

“Yup.”

“I guess that is logical in some way.”

“It is.”

“By the way, how did you know what size stuff I wore? All of the underwear and socks and shirts are all my size.”

“I told you, I’m smart and sneaky. I want to take care of you, so, I need to know stuff.”

“Then your plan is to keep me here for a week and then let me go?”

“If you want to.”

“You think I might decide what, to move in here with you?”

“Yup.”

All of her answers seemed to be just so matter-of-fact. No sign of a doubt at all.

“Where do I find stuff for breakfast?”

“Same place you would find them at your apartment?”

“The fast food joint down the street?”

“Really? Is it that bad?”

“I guess it is.”

Kendi dropped her head, as if praying, and took a moment.

“Everything you might want to eat is in this kitchen.”

Was that a euphemism? What was in the kitchen that I would love to eat?

I went to the refrigerator and took out the orange juice and butter. The breadbox on the countertop next to the stove was the next logical location. I found whole wheat, rye and some sort of full grain bread. My selection went into the toaster on the kitchen island next to the cutting board.

“This is a nice place. After breakfast I need to look out the windows. Mind if I open a curtain?”

“Nope. Just don’t leave it open.”

“Peeping toms?”

“Stupid birds.”

She lifted her eyes from her lap.

“When the curtains are open during the daytime, the birds try to fly through the windows.”

“Oh.” Tippi Hendren blew through my mind.

The condo was really spacious. It had a large kitchen with the afore mentioned island in the middle, a large dining room, and a large living room. The bedroom I was in was large and had its own bathroom, I had to assume that Kendi’s bedroom was as large or larger. There were windows on two sides of the open kitchen/dining room/living room.

The toast popped up and as soon as it was buttered a large portion of it was in my mouth. I don’t remember being this hungry. I mean, hungry as in needing to eat. I usually ate because I was lonely or bored.

With toast in hand, I opened one section of the curtain and looked out over a great view of the downtown skyline and the mountains beyond. It was a nice clear morning. Even with the development in the downtown area, Kendi’s place still had an unobstructed view of the world.