Chapter_01

     Rolling over, Leo checks the nightstand clock, 5:15am.  If it were yesterday, he’d be rising and out the house by 6:00am.  But it is today.  He had been cut.  He was no longer a federal employee�"today he was nobody�"somebody, but no one of particular importance.

     Usually by now, he was showered and shaved, about to throw back a Nespresso before heading out, maybe catch a glimpse of the morning headline news.  As he tossed and turned, he tried to justify not getting up �" the next moment he rebuttal the thought.  It was the first day without commitment.  No one to report to, no assignment outlined, no daily task to check on.  He was totally free of structure and loathing to go back.  But the restructuring was final; he was an externality, an outliner, left behind.  He had no desire to rewrite his resume, job search, or interview.  He decided he would enjoy the fall months, find himself perhaps, possibly discover something.  That was it.  Sleep in each day until Thanksgiving.  Then the grey monuments of the city would be cold and snow covered.  Perhaps he would be on tenure track the following term or at least have enough references to join a think tank.

     Leo turned on the television to be greeted by Kelly and Michael.  Although he knew well of Kelly Ripa, time must have pasted and Regis was gone.  Leo had nothing in common with the television icon Regis, who burnt through Kathie Lee and swiftly replaced her with All My Children’s actress Kelly Ripa, who not only replaced her, she surpassed her.  And now lacking Regis, Kelly held the throne, her name first in the Marquee.  Leopold thought Kelly Ripa was the best looking 43 year-old around.  Why he knew her age although he never tuned in didn’t appear odd to him.  There were countless wiki-like facts Leo knew all around him.  He cleaned up every week at the local bar trivia through he just drank diet Coke.  Maybe he knew Kelly Ripa’s age because it was the same as his own and saw the fountain of youth in her.  Regis was a lucky b*****d to co-host with her and now was Michael Strahan alike.  But like Hollywood and New York where marriages last as long an Internet tweets, Leo was alone.  He wasn’t particularly ugly or anything, just too busy, that was until today.

     Maybe there wasn’t any reason he shouldn’t be getting laid�"but what would that accomplish?  He’d have the reputation of John Stamos �" a playboy �" never to settle �" looking past current f**k to the next.  Okay.  Perhaps John Stamos is a stretch, but Leo had always secretly envied a actress, since he started listing to Howard Stern years ago.

     Deep down, maybe it was time he look outside himself, hitch up, loose himself, fall in love.

     Still in bed, the show The View played across the room on Leo’s nightstand hutch.  It was the most unlikely montage of celebrity host.  Barbara Walters he couldn’t stand, Whoopi Goldberg, hilarious, Sherri Shepard, didn’t know much about, and Jenny McCarthy, a playmate, baffled him how she ever worked her way into daytime television.

     At 2:00 E/T, General Hospital flashed across the tube.  Leo had already endured one hour of local programming, which happened to be an infomercial for a Proactiv Solution Acne Treatment.  He had managed to stay tuned, thanks to Vanessa Williams success story.  She was a better T.V. celebrity then Jessica Simpson who made Proactiv famous and Vanessa looked good for 50, though Leo had to look up on Google.

     What would his life look like at 50?  Would he be a distinguished professor?  Have a married life?  Children?

**********

     “Ring.  Ring.  Ring.”

     “Hello, Leo here.”

     “Yes!  Leo �" This is Stacy with It’s Just Lunch.  Do you have time to complete your profile?”

     “That was fast, sure!  Oh, what’s the membership cost?”

     “1,000 dollars for one year.”

     “Umm… alrighty then.”

**********

     Still wary of dating, Leo walks to the entrance of Washington D.C.’s Kennedy Center.  Night’s like tonight were sacred to him.  Tonight was to be especially a treat.  It was not a typical evening symphony, but rather a string quartet, Vivaldi: Le Quattro Stagioni (The Four Seasons).

     Up the stairs to his patron seat of 15 years, right balcony, row A, seat 1.  He liked to come early to hear the strings warm.  Taking off his sports coat, he draped it over the seat and plunked into the red velvet-hinging cushion.

     Leo loved the sound, the chaos, and the beautiful commotion as the performers tuned their instruments.  Focusing down to the stage like fly over drone, Leo took immediate interest in a tall Asian women position to the far left of the conductor’s stand.  Brushing her long shimmering black hair backwards, she pulled it into a tight ponytail.  Then she plucked her antic violin off her lap, placed the instrument to her chin, and plucked the E, A, D, G strings individually, then bowed E and A together, finally D and G together.  The violin was like nothing Leo had ever seen prior, intricately carved from the neck down the hips of the wood.  A suitable instrument for such a intriguing women.

     He pulled the program from out under his left leg and flipped through it, her name Jae Seo Kim.

Author's Note

Please ignore grammar and spelling mistakes. What do you think of it as a piece?