The sun had just begun to set as I bustled into my house under the weight of two weeks of dry cleaning that I finally decided to pick up this afternoon, which made me proud of myself considering after 8 hours of accounting I usually felt like doing nothing except for crawling into my bed with a bag of Chips Ahoy and watching reruns of Roseanne.
My delight with myself was short lived when I realized that I had forgotten to set my new alarm system this morning before I left the house, new routines took some getting used to I comforted myself.
After my shower, I stood over my counter and began washing up the few dishes that had been left over from the day before when the phone rang. It was Aria. She kept me laughing for a half an hour straight giving me all of the details of her disastrous date the previous night. Apparently, he did not open the door, talked about himself all night, then after he paid the tab asked her to leave the tip... “it was the least she could do.” he explained. This of course was right before he criticized her choice in nail color.
“He told me that my mint green nail polish, which happens to be the trend right now, thank you very much, is ghetto.
“What an idiot.” I told her.
“I excused myself to the ladies room and showed him “what the least I could do was”...I hopped a cab before he tried to pump me for gas money.”
We both laughed.
“Any new news on that break in your neighborhood last month?” I stopped washing the dishes for a moment.
“No, nothing!” I told her dryly.
“I can’t believe that such a terrible thing could happen in a neighborhood as nice as yours and the fact that they didn’t catch the guy...”
“Yeah, but the guy beat the lady so badly, she hardly has any recollection of what happen let alone is she able to help with identification.” I told her.
“See, if you had a man, you wouldn’t have this problem.” Aria stated.
“What do I need a man for, my new alarm system does the same job and I don’t have to cook it dinner.”
“This is true.” She agreed. “Well, I gotta go, I think my date is here.” Aria said.
“Good luck.” I laughed as I hung up the phone and went to put a frozen meal in the microwave.
I jumped as I looked down at Ringo, my little cat that began nipping at my ankles, he wanted to go outside. Not paranoid but cautious, I peeked out of the blinds into my backyard to make sure that there was no one standing there, waiting to kick my door in. The coast was clear.. I pressed the code into the alarm, opened the door and Ringo scurried out. Closing the door quickly, I reset the alarm and peeked out of the blinds again.
The microwave dinged.
While eating my phone rang. It was my mother and I started to, but...no, I just didn’t have the energy. She would rattle on about every macabre thing that she had heard in the news this week, how many people had been beaten or murdered or what heinous remark had been made about the President and....I love my mother, but I just couldn’t do it tonight. Then she would inquire about the alarm that she had insisted I get when I told her about what happened in the neighborhood a couple of weeks ago. Initially, I refused proclaiming indigence, but when she insisted that she would foot the bill for the security system, how could I resist?
Before I knew it I was on the couch and the tv was watching me when I awoke suddenly to a disturbance. After pulling myself completely out of the dream state I realized that the noise must have been a knock on the door. From my couch, I had an unobstructed view straight to the front door and I saw no shadow through the thick designer glass. I got up from the couch and took light foot steps toward the door, I placed my hand on the knob and leaned in to get a better look out the window where there was a sudden movement.
“Lina” A voice called out and I instantly recognized the voice of my neighbor. A huge sigh of relief escaped me as I disarmed the alarm and swung the door open.
I must have looked as frazzled as I was.
“Sorry, I hope it isn’t too late, I was just wanting to borrow some butter if you had any.” The harmless man asked.
“Butter?...” I repeated as if I had not heard him correctly, still trying to pull myself into full consciousness.
“Yes, we put steaks on the grill, I made baked potatoes and we sit down and realize that we have no butter.”
“Sure.” I told him. “Come in.”
He stepped inside and lingered in the door way as I disappeared into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator. I pulled out an entire stick of butter and turned to go back down the hall and he was gone. The door was wide open. I walked out unto the porch cautiously, standing there alone with a stick of butter in my hand.
“Nick” I called as I stepped down off of the porch.” I could feel dirt and dust gathering on the bottom of my bare feet.
“Lina” He said as he came back into view appearing from around the corner of the garage.
I gasped as I stepped back.
“Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you.” He said as he moved closer to grab the butter. “I thought I heard my wife calling me.”
“Right” I said.
“Thanks for the butter.” He said as he headed back around the corner. “I’ll return the favor.” He said.
I rolled my eyes before scurrying back into my house and locking the front door. I made sure that the garage and garage door were both closed and locked and then I headed to the back door where Ringo was scratching. I opened the door and stared out into the blackness.
“Ringo” I called, I bristled as sharp wind ruffled my hair. Ringo came whipping through the door and around the corner. I shut and re-locked the back door. I set the alarm, turned off the T.V. and settled into bed. The entire house was locked down, secure and the alarm was set, there was no one coming into my home that night and I felt safe. I closed my eyes for only a moment when I heard a soft creak, the closet door opened and a man stepped out and was standing at the foot of my bed.
“I have been waiting for you all day.” He said in a growl.
JeanNicole Rivers
www.jeannicolerivers.com
Author of Black Water Tales: The Secret Keepers (http://tinyurl.com/cgvgd98)
@jeannicole19
