SOLTuesday: Windows and Blinds

            A couple of months ago I was taking a shower when I noticed a man on the ledge of the school next door, which is maybe 15 feet from my bathroom window. We have never had a window covering on the bathroom window because our apartment is on the dark side: second floor, tall building on other side of narrow alleyway. Why make it darker with a shade?

            Standing in the shower, I was able to get into a corner that was out of the sightline, and when I peeked out, I saw the man had his back to my window, and when I was done  with my shower, he was gone from the ledge.

            That school building’s ledge has two immense fans, probably part of the air-conditioning or heating system, and there is usually never anyone there — except maybe once every few years. And then there’s Local Law 11, which requires every building to inspect its exterior walls every five years.

            Why did I never check to see if anyone was there? Because when Jack was alive, he almost always woke up first and alerted me if there were workmen able to see into the bathroom. And if there were, I’d rig up a temporary shade with a towel on a curtain rod for the duration.

            Now, I no longer have Jack as early-warning-system. And why shouldn’t I buy blinds or a shade that would be open most of the time, and closed only when necessary? I stopped at the nearest home décor store, ordered a shade for the bathroom and a blind for the bedroom that used to be our daughter’s, and which she claims had a blind in her youth but I have no recollection of it.

            Now I look out the bathroom window every day before getting in the shower, and there hasn’t been anyone on that ledge since. So no need to use the shade — yet.

------------------------------------------------------ 

--> It’s Slice of Life Tuesday over at Two Writing Teachers. Check out this encouraging and enthusiastic writing community and their slices of life every Tuesday. And add one of your own.