The Dirty Window

Out of confusion comes hope.

 

THE DIRTY WINDOW

 

Laura climbed through the window of her ex-husband James’ kitchen. She wasn’t in a hurry as he had left for work not many minutes before. She couldn’t find it in herself to think that she had had anything to do with the break up of their marriage. Laura had learnt one thing for sure, that if one of the members of a partnership wanted out, the other member had nothing to do but let them go. What Laura wanted was to discover what her rival in his affections had that she didn’t. Laura was a woman who was considered successful in every possible way, except in her marriage. Friends had told her that they had seen him talking to another woman months before he had said he was leaving. The other woman was what Laura’s mother called a ‘dying duck’. The kind that gaze into men’s eyes, sigh, and say how strong they are, and touch them on their arms while still gazing adoringly at them. A spider’s web is being woven around the unsuspecting and vulnerable male and he just doesn’t know, or isn’t even aware of it.

Laura stood back and took a good look at the kitchen. It wasn’t too bad, everything was neatly and tidily put away and the floor had been swept. The window, on the other hand, was smeary and dirty. Laura, who couldn’t stand dirty windows, opened a cupboard and got hold of a bottle of window cleaner and a couple of cloths. She began to clean the windows. All of a sudden, the kitchen was filled with light instead of gloom. Satisfied with her effort, she went into another room, and another room, till she had cleaned all the windows downstairs.

The reason for making such an effort in her ex’s house was to remind him of what he had left, of what he had given up. The new woman would think he had cleaned the windows, and he would be reminded of the only person who cleaned windows so thoroughly. Anyway, it would be a surprise to come home to a house full of light, unlike the one Laura now inhabited which was full of gloom, now that she lived alone. What Laura needed to know was, why James went, and what had made the other woman tick.

 

Her friend, Margot was standing staring out of the living-room window. It wasn’t filthy, but could have done with a good clean. Laura stood staring at her friend, and wondered what had captured her attention.

“If you don’t mind, I’ll clean your window for you, and then you’ll be able to see better what’s outside. Is there anything special you’re looking at?” Laura asked Margot.

Margot gave a slight shrug of her shoulders to show she had heard Laura’s voice. “I’m not looking at what’s through the window. I’m looking for a solution to a problem.”

“Am I allowed to be privy to this problem, or do you prefer to keep it to yourself?” Laura asked.

Margot rather reluctantly turned round to face Laura, who had finished cleaning the living-room window. “I’m desperate, as I don’t know really what to do. My father owns a lot of properties and wants us to take them over so that he can retire. There’s another problem, that an unscrupulous man is after the properties. I’ve never had anything to do with the family business, and yet now I’m supposed to give up my job and what I studied for, together with my brother and sister, and take over something for which we feel absolutely nothing. The problem is, I just don’t know what to do.”

Laura appreciated Margot a lot. They had been friends for twenty years, and now they were in their forties and were verging on the darker side of life, when the body begins to sag and lines, however faint, begin to make their appearance on male and female faces. “I suppose it’s hard for you to give up what you’ve worked so hard to achieve, but your father had the same experience, too, before he made his money.”

“Are you saying we must do what my father wants us to do?”

“No, in the end, the final decision has to be the one you all agree on, I can’t say anything more, neither can anyone else,” Laura said to her miserable-looking friend.

 

A couple of days later after Laura and Margot had met, Laura read in the newspaper that Margot’s father had died from a heart attack caused by a severe shock. Laura wondered when she’d see Margot again.

 

“Laura, please open the window, it’s far too hot in here,” Laura’s mother called peevishly.

Laura walked over to the recently cleaned window and opened it as far as it would go. After being man-less for over a year since her divorce from James, Laura had met someone who might prove to be of interest to her. She didn’t know where this new relationship would take her, or if it would take her anywhere. She would have to wait and see - that’s all.

James’ abandonment of the marital home had left scars. Laura felt, even against her will, that maybe, just maybe, it was time to let others know how she felt, and get to know new people. That was one of the reasons she had gone out with a man she had only known a very short time.

 

The machines monitoring Laura’s vital signs were the only sound to be heard in the Intensive Care Unit.  The room was without windows. Laura felt worried. Where was she? The room seemed to be just four white walls. How do I get out of this? She thought to herself.

“Laura, Laura, come on, wake up. You can’t lie there for ever.”

Laura heard her mother’s voice and couldn’t imagine why she should be shouting at her.

“Laura, if you don’t get up soon you’ll be late for work. It’s your first day and you have to make a good impression.” 

The voice kept on and on calling her name. What’s the matter with her? I shan’t be late, everything’s under control.

 

Laura had been to see Margot a few times after the selling of the properties. She wondered how they had avoided the unscrupulous man getting hold of them. She rang Margot and arranged to meet her at the riverside café they both knew. Margot looked fine and happy.

Laura couldn’t resist commenting on it. “You look fantastic! How do you do it?”

“I’ve met someone but, as you know, these things are never sure till some time has passed and then you can still get nasty surprises.” Margot said in reply.

“How did you and your brother and sister free yourselves of the objectionable man who was after your properties?”

“As soon as our father had died, was buried, and all the paperwork had been done, we began selling the properties off to the tenants who were interested in owning their own property. We visited them individually and let them have the flats at good prices. After all, the money was still a good inheritance in spite of the tax man’s cut. We didn’t care, as long as that monster man was pushed out of the picture. Anyway he has never bothered us again.”

“He’s obviously found another possible gold mine. But you be careful, in case he’s planning some kind of revenge on your family,” Laura said.

“That’s not the usual way of behaving in this country. You’ve seen too many mafia movies,” Margot said laughing.

 

Laura opened her eyes, and didn’t have a clue where she was or why she was there. She felt very drowsy and was not really with it. A nurse went to her bed and looked down at her. Laura said in a very weak voice, “Where am I?”

The nurse replied, “You’re in hospital. You’ve been here for quite a while. You were brought in after collapsing in your mother’s house. She was petrified you were dying.”

“Was I dying?” Laura asked.

“Not far off. You’ve had double pneumonia and pleurisy.”

Laura asked herself how she had got so ill. The answer must be she had been run down, not looking after herself. Why had she got so ill? The only answer she could come up with was - to slow her down. When had she begun to feel under the weather? After the divorce?

Laura relaxed against the pillows and let herself drift off to sleep again. The hospital informed her mother that she had regained consciousness. Laura was a shock to her mother, she had lost so much weight, and she was still too weak to do anything but look at her mother in a zombie-like way. There wasn’t much conversation between mother and daughter.

 

One day, when the doctor who had been keeping an eye on Laura during the long wait for her to come to, decided that in hospital she wasn’t going to get any better, so asked Laura’s mother to take her home. Laura asked the doctor how ill she had been and how she had been admitted into the hospital. The doctor looked at Laura carefully, and told her, “Your mother rang the hospital because you were lying in bed in a state of collapse. You had been through a bad case of flu, and you hadn’t looked after yourself and had gone back to work too soon. As a result, you pushed your body too hard, and pneumonia and pleurisy attacked your lungs. Your mother said that you had been complaining of chest pains and coughing. We gave you an x-ray which you, no doubt, don’t remember, and we decided to have you under our watchful eyes and give you antibiotics till you got better. Now you don’t need to be here. You have to stay indoors for a month. No running round the shops or doing anything strenuous. Your possibilities of a relapse are very high. When the month is up, come back and we’ll give you another CAT scan on your lungs and pleura. So, behave yourself, and get over this soon. All you need to do is obey instructions. Your mother will keep you under constant surveillance. See you in a month’s time.”

The doctor shook hands with Laura and watched her as she walked out to her mother’s waiting car.

 

“Mum, can’t you get the window-cleaner to come and clean the windows?” Laura said complaining.

“What can the window-cleaner do? He comes as often as he can. It’s not his fault it keeps on raining. You want to forget about windows, you’re supposed to be resting. Leave the windows alone.”

“You know how I love to clean windows,” Laura moaned.

“I’ll draw the curtains so you can’t see them. If you want anything, I’ll be in the kitchen. Why don’t you try and get some sleep?” And with those words Laura’s mother left her daughter lying on the sofa and went into the kitchen.

 

Laura didn’t feel sleepy as she had been asleep for so long in the hospital. She got out her mobile and began phoning around, letting people know what had happened to her, and why she had been out of circulation. Everyone was happy to hear from her and tell her their news, which cheered Laura up immensely. She found ringing Margot worse than difficult. All she got was the engaged tone. Feeling tired again, Laura fell asleep, but didn’t dream too much.

 

When she woke up she made another effort to get in touch with Margot.

“Mum, can you come here, please?”

Laura’s mother went into the living-room with a tray, on which there were some jars of pills. “It’s time for your medicine,” she said, and she took out the prescribed doses and handed them to her daughter.

“Mum, is there anything wrong with my mobile? I can’t get in touch with Margot. It was without battery during my stay in hospital.”

Laura’s mother put the lids on the jars, replaced them on the tray, and then left the living-room.

 

A few minutes later she returned with a newspaper in her hands, which she gave to Laura, who took it in puzzlement. There was a large photo of Margot and her brother and sister, with the heading that said they had all been killed in a crash of a light aircraft.

The story was, that it had begun to lose height and had crashed into the tops of trees, where it had remained for some time before eventually hitting the ground. Laura knew, but without proof, that it had been out of revenge by the unscrupulous businessman. The date on the front page showed that the accident had taken place while Laura was unconscious in the hospital. It made no difference as to how Laura felt on reading such a horrid piece of news. I bet that monster has already made a bid for some of the other businesses that Margot’s family had possessed. The tears filled her eyes as she hoped that none of them had realized what was happening before the crash. Laura continued reading the report and saw that pilot error was considered the main reason for the accident. She noted the name of the pilot and wondered if he worked for the abominable man. She also noted that they had been cremated, and their ashes scattered in the sea. So there wasn’t even a grave to visit.

Laura then left the newspaper article face up, so that she was able to see the photo of Margot and her brother and sister. Laura shuddered as she remembered the dirty window in Margot’s living-room, and how her friend had tried to see through the dirt before she had cleaned it for her. Margot had found a solution to her problem, but it had turned out not to be the best solution. Man proposes and God disposes, thought Laura. All of a sudden, she felt exhausted and wished to fall sleep.

 

The house where James and his second wife had lived in after they had married had been sold, and the couple had gone to live as far away from Laura as possible. Laura was considered to be a persona-non-grata in their eyes. Laura knew nothing of this, due to her long stay in hospital. Her mother protected her from this and other stories. The one that she thought was of major interest to her daughter she had informed her about.

 

When her month of convalescence was over and she had to report to the nurse for another CAT scan, Laura made an appointment for one windy afternoon. She didn’t fancy going out in bad weather, but her mother insisted, saying that she had been indoors long enough. Laura wasn’t worried about her lungs. After the scan was finished, she was given a date to return to see the doctor with the scan.

 

A week after the scan had been taken Laura picked it up, with all the information from the technicians inside the envelope.

The doctor took out all the contents of the envelope, read the details, and looked at the scan. He stared at Laura and said, “Congratulations. You have nothing wrong with your lungs or your pleura. You are a healthy woman again.”

Laura stood up and said, “Thank you, Doctor. I’m very grateful.”

“Where are you going?” the doctor asked her.

“I’m well now, so I’m leaving the hospital.”

“You can’t do that so soon. I’ve been looking at you for weeks, and waiting for you to wake up so that I could ask you out.”

Laura gazed at him in surprise, “Haven’t you seen enough of me?”

“Not with your eyes open. You always appeared to be dreaming.”

“So, that’s what I’ve been doing in here, just dreaming my life away.”

“I wouldn’t say that exactly. You’ve met me, and now we can dream about each other. I’ll pick you up this evening at seven. OK?”

“OK.”