sort of inspired by a true story
New thing I'm working on. I have the beginning and the end here but I need to work on the middle. The middle is the hardest part.
Mike-O’Malley, thirty-seven years old, walked down his block and paused three buildings in. She was upstairs, he was looking up and saw she was upstairs. Here he was standing on the sidewalk looking up at her apartment window.
He lived in the building next door to her, four buildings into the block. He didn’t know this until he met her at the Arizona Lounge, when he bought her a drink and lit her cigarette. She looked uneasy and divulged that she was nineteen; she wasn’t really allowed here. As he puffed once on a Marlboro Red, he thought, she trusts me, a pretty good looking nineteen year old girl could trust a guy like me. He had felt so good about himself that night. She excused herself soon after but later that week he saw her walking out the building next too his. He knew she lived there, he saw her putting keys away in her purse. Besides, if she had been visiting a boyfriend she would have told him she was taken that night at Arizona.
Not that he really thought he had a shot at her, he was just checking her out. Not... not checking her out that way. Of course. Not “checking out” that way, he wasn’t like that. I mean, he thought, it was legal, but it was just frowned upon. He was kinda becoming an old guy now, she wouldn’t even want to be with an old man.
He turned his head quickly down and left, pointing his eyes across the street. There was a chick about twenty-one, twenty-two standing outside a rowhouse, holding the door to the building open with her foot while she puffed on a clove or some kind of dark cigarette. She was looking at him but just in kind of a bored way, Mike-O-Malley noticed. He pushed his hands deeper into his pockets and pretended to be cold and waiting for something. This stupid neighborhood, filled with college kids.
**
A twenty-three year old man walked out of the building next door. He looked across the street and saw the twenty-one year old across the street, and she saw him. They smiled; he mouthed “Hi” as he climbed onto his bike and she mouthed the same. He looked once more across the street before pushing off and coasting down the block.
Mike-O’Malley, thirty-seven years old, walked down his block and paused three buildings in. She was upstairs, he was looking up and saw she was upstairs. Here he was standing on the sidewalk looking up at her apartment window.
He lived in the building next door to her, four buildings into the block. He didn’t know this until he met her at the Arizona Lounge, when he bought her a drink and lit her cigarette. She looked uneasy and divulged that she was nineteen; she wasn’t really allowed here. As he puffed once on a Marlboro Red, he thought, she trusts me, a pretty good looking nineteen year old girl could trust a guy like me. He had felt so good about himself that night. She excused herself soon after but later that week he saw her walking out the building next too his. He knew she lived there, he saw her putting keys away in her purse. Besides, if she had been visiting a boyfriend she would have told him she was taken that night at Arizona.
Not that he really thought he had a shot at her, he was just checking her out. Not... not checking her out that way. Of course. Not “checking out” that way, he wasn’t like that. I mean, he thought, it was legal, but it was just frowned upon. He was kinda becoming an old guy now, she wouldn’t even want to be with an old man.
He turned his head quickly down and left, pointing his eyes across the street. There was a chick about twenty-one, twenty-two standing outside a rowhouse, holding the door to the building open with her foot while she puffed on a clove or some kind of dark cigarette. She was looking at him but just in kind of a bored way, Mike-O-Malley noticed. He pushed his hands deeper into his pockets and pretended to be cold and waiting for something. This stupid neighborhood, filled with college kids.
**
A twenty-three year old man walked out of the building next door. He looked across the street and saw the twenty-one year old across the street, and she saw him. They smiled; he mouthed “Hi” as he climbed onto his bike and she mouthed the same. He looked once more across the street before pushing off and coasting down the block.
posted by sue kelly at 11:32 AM
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