On The Corner of Walk and Don't Walk

by Madame Estrella

Christy parked her Blazer before the building on the busy city street.  She leaned over the passenger seat and looked up at it.  It was an old, brick building that stood on a corner.  It was interesting in that it was shaped as a wedge with traffic going by on either side at the command of the stoplight.  A crosswalk extended the whole way with a break in front of her building.  She had the room in the corner on the third floor.

"Oh well, you're here now, babe!"  She shook her head and got out of the car.  She opened the side door and grabbed a box and then faced her new home.  She walked inside to the main stairwell and ascended to her new place.  She turned the key in the old lock and kicked the door open.  She saw the glass windows turn around her corner.  It was a large studio with several alcoves to give the hint that there might be more than one room with a bathroom.  She set her box down and then headed back downstairs.

Later, as she struggled to push her mattress through the main door, a young man approached her.

"Hi, you need some help there?"  He asked, grinning.

"Sure, you're not going to rob me, right?"  She asked, half-serious.  He grabbed the end of the mattress and pushed it forward.  He helped her get it up the stairs, along with the rest of her belongings.  He then went back to work when they were done, at the newsstand located on the first floor.

Christy looked about at the boxes and disassembled pieces of furniture scattered about the room. She plugged in her radio and began putting her bed together.  Then she went to the cabinets and shelves that made up the small kitchen in the corner of the windows and beside the bathroom.  At least she had appliances.  She got her kitchen in order and then carried those boxes out.

She didn't feel like she was making much progress.  She got the rest of her furniture together and worked long into the night unpacking.  She lay down to sleep at about 4 AM.

The next day she woke and walked to the windows.  She leaned over and watched as the traffic came and went by either side and had an idea.  She drove to a couple stores and bought material and paint.

She returned and pulled out her sewing machine.  For six hours she ran the needle and came up with about a hundred feet of curtains laid end to end.  She opened her windows and put on some old clothes and began to paint the walls.  When she was done, she washed all her windows and then hung the curtains across them.  She pulled and tied them in different places to allow as much natural light as she desired without allowing much of a view to undesirables.

She started work in a few days, and then this move would be real.  She'd come a long way from her small town, seven states away, to this city.  She'd never been there before, she'd just seen pictures of it.  It was a good job opportunity, though.  It had to be to bring her this far, alone.  She sat on the ledge, in the corner, and stared out the window.  It was Friday night and all the people in the world were doing something with the one they loved or the ones they liked.  She watched the cars go by and the people crossing the long city streets split by her home.  She could live here.

She made a cup of coffee and returned to her window.  The master of all she surveyed.  She chuckled at the thought and leaned back against the frame and sipped her coffee.  What would she do?  Sit here all night?  Might as well, she needed to settle in and she didn't know anybody.  Maybe she'd look for a free kitten tomorrow.

There was a knock at the door that startled her.  She laughed at herself and looked at the door.  Was there somebody here to see her?  She heard the knock again.  It was a shy, cautious knock.  She could tell.  Is she home?  They were probably wondering whether they should give up and head back downstairs.  She heard it again.  This time it was barely audible, like someone rapping with his or her knuckles.  Maybe it was that cute guy from the newsstand, she thought grinning as she set down her cup of coffee.