City Lights

A sleepy girl and a night stranger.

 

 The heat in the apartment was stifling. Joy threw off the sheet and walked naked to the sliding glass door overlooking the city. She had only been living in Baltimore for a month, having been placed by the Federal Marshals. It was wonderful to be free to walk the streets again without looking over her shoulder. The past year of living in Detroit in fear as she awaited her turn to testify against Shawn had been nerve wracking. The apartment was nice for witness protection, not very big, just two rooms and a bath. The building was a high rise, and she was on the 20^th floor. Joy scanned the horizon. In the distance she could see heat lightning bursting in the dark skies. She slid open the glass balcony door and a gust of cool city air hit her face. The city’s lights sparkled like diamonds in the night’s darkness. She smiled looking down at the waterfront and thought, what a view. The muted sounds of the spotty late night traffic drifted in the air. Joy decided to leave the door open hoping to get some cross ventilation. The air conditioning was not working. Since it was only April, the super wasn’t jumping to get it fixed. Everyone in the building had been complaining. 

   Joy strolled back to bed and laid down shoving a pillow under her head. Glancing at the clock on the nightstand she saw it was 1:11, that’s weird, she thought as she drifted into a deep sleep. She began to dream. 

****

    In her dream, she heard a scraping sound on the balcony. She turned over and opened her eyes to see the silhouette of a tall man dressed in a black silk ninja outfit standing in the balcony doorway.   She immediately thought it was one of Shawn’s henchmen and went cold inside.

  “I won’t hurt you.” The stranger spoke softly to her.” Just let me explain, don’t scream.” As quickly as he spoke these words, he was next to her sitting on the bed with his hand over her mouth.” Please don’t scream.” he pleaded softly again. Joy answered by nodding.

 “I am going to take my hand off your mouth.” Joy was scared and relieved at the same time. What could this stranger want with her? “I need a place to lay low for about an hour.” Joy could hear the sirens of the police cars pulling into the driveway below. Even though the cops were shouting at each other, by the time the words drifted up to the open door, she could not make out their meaning.

  The stranger explained, “I burglarized the apartment building across from yours. Somehow I tripped an alarm when I was leaving.” I had no where to go but up, and after I jumped the roof to your building, I saw your balcony door was open.” So...Here I am.” Will you keep my secret?” He asked with a smile, she could tell he was smiling even with the black silk mask covering his face. He had cut slits for his eyes and mouth, and she could see his eyes were dark brown. One stray brown curl had escaped his head covering, it was damp with sweat.

     Why do I always meet men with a secret? Joy thought, and with a sigh of resignation replied, “Sure, why not.” “You don’t seem awfully dangerous.” A smile crept into her voice. With that the stranger laid down next to her. He reached down and pulled the sheet from the floor.

  “Your naked, cover up, it is going to get cooler as the night deepens.” He whispered. Joy could feel the heat from his breath and the vibration of his words on the back of her neck, as he spoke.

 My god, she thought in horror, I am getting turned on by this man. She could feel the muscular hardness of his chest and legs though the black silk, she had been frozen with fear but slowly relaxed. They lay there in silence, for what seemed to be an extremely long time. Joy could tell he was becoming aroused too. Finally, she ran her hand down the length of his body. Before she knew what happened, they were in a bottomless passionate kiss, and the night exploded within her. 

 Joy woke with a start sitting straight up in bed.” Holy cow, what a dream!” She said aloud. She was drenched in sweat, and her heart was racing. She was tangled in the sheet and nearly fell as she got out of bed; she swung her legs over the side. Looking at the clock, it read 4:44. “Why is it always some weird time when you look at the clock late at night?” A shiver went down her spine. She decided to go to the kitchen and start a pot of coffee. No way was she going to get back to sleep after that dream. Glancing at the end of the room she noticed the baloney door was shut. Hummm… she mused,” I would have sworn I left the door open.”

****

   As she walked past the end table something caught her eye. Next to the alarm clock was what appeared to be a large sparkling emerald cut diamond! Joy gingerly picked it up. The brilliance of the stone shown in the darkness of the night, it seemed to wink at her. “This has to be at least two carats, my goodness where did it come from?” Her mind was racing. Was it not a dream, did it all really happened? She placed the beautiful stone back on the table. “The hell with making coffee, I am going out for a big breakfast”. She pulled on a pair of jeans and rummaged for a sweatshirt. Joy jammed her bare feet into her sneakers. She dashed into the bathroom throwing cold water on her face and running a comb through her tangled hair. She grabbed her purse from the chair next to the bed. She was half way out of the room when she turned around and snatched the diamond shoving it deep in her pants pocket. Humming the song Life in the Fast Lane, she bound out the door and down the hallway to the elevators.

   Once on the street, Joy walked from her apartment, Avalon Center Point on Howard Street towards Pratt Street. She wandered in the twilight searching for a good place to have breakfast. She was famished! After ten minutes, she found herself in front of the Marriott Hotel.

  This will do just fine.  She thought as she entered the beautiful hotel dining room. She was seated at a window table and the twilight had given way to sunrise. The vivid streams of light poured through the vaulted windows giving the room a surreal glow. She leisurely ate a huge grand slam breakfast and enjoyed an extra cup of a fine Columbia coffee. She paid her bill and decided to walk around the harbor for a while.

  As she was crossing the street she noticed a young black man filling the Baltimore Sun newspaper box. The headline screamed at her, “Ninja Cat Burglar Hits Twice in One Week!”

 “Excuse me.” Joy said to the young man, “Can I have one of those papers?” “Sure, here you go.” He handed her one in exchange for a dollar bill. “Keep the change.” She told him as she walked away. She continued reading, “Sutton Place Jeweler’s Home was ransacked late last night. One and a half million dollars in unregistered diamonds stolen.” Joy smiled and stroked the stone in her pocket. Placing the paper under her arm, she walked down the street back to her apartment.                                     

December 2, 2009