The Man in the Window in the Apartment Next Door
I began to feel somehow connected to the man who lived in the apartment across the alley, and I was saddened when I realized that he was moving out. Or at least I think he’s moving out.
I live on the third and top floor of my small apartment building and next door there is another small apartment building that is also three floors and my bedroom faces this next door building. My apartment is quite small and doesn’t have many windows. There is one window in my bedroom, and one small window at the top of the shower in my bathroom that is too high up for me to see anything out of. The apartment next door has several windows. There is a balcony attached to the living room with sliding glass doors and two smaller windows in an adjacent room that I would guess are the kitchen and dining area. There is a big shelf backed up to one of the smaller windows, filled with things I can’t quite make out, and a big plant in front of the other one. Through the glass sliding doors I can see my neighbor’s TV, which is placed on the opposite wall and faces directly into my bedroom. There is some living room furniture as well. It looks to be a pretty large apartment. There is patio furniture on the balcony; a table and two chairs. He likes to smoke and there’s a big ash tray that sits on the table. There are some tall cacti in pots around the balcony as well.
Every time I go into my bedroom I look across the way to see what’s playing on the TV in my neighbor’s apartment. He watches a lot of sports. Anime. Movies that I don’t always recognize. Sometimes he plays video games. The TV is not always on. He also likes to sit outside on his balcony smoking a joint and scrolling through his phone or eating a bowl of cut fruit. I always get startled when he’s outside and I duck instinctively so as not to be seen as if I’ve been caught doing something wrong. I sometimes feel like I am spying but I don’t mean to be, I’m just looking out my window and he's what happens to be there. Sometimes I wish it was a view of mountains or skyscrapers or the beach. If I stand close to the window and look out at a steeper angle I can see a few of the trees that grow out of the sidewalk outside my apartment. If I look the other way I just see the line of other apartment’s balconies in the bigger building next door.
The other day I looked out my window in the morning to see what the weather was before I got dressed to leave for work and I noticed that the smaller windows in my neighbor’s apartment were empty. No big shelves. No plant. Weird. The next day there were some folded up boxes leaned up against the couch in the living room. He must be moving out.
I suppose I will never know this man’s name nor ever meet him in person but I feel like I’ve gotten to know him over the years, from seeing him smoke on the balcony to watching bits of movies through the window. I’m sure he can hear my music when I listen to my record player on max volume with my windows open on hot summer days. I hope whoever moves in next is nice and interesting and lets me watch Dodger’s games through the window since I can’t afford cable.