He was lost in the words on the page, anticipating the impending revelation in the plot he had been waiting four hundred pages for, when a voice broke through like a sharp knock against a hollow wall.

"Hello?"

Alex flinched, and, immediately struggling to recover from the startle, he glanced at the girl who occupied the other side of the elevator. She was looking directly at him from behind a pair of glasses, waiting for his response, her widened eyes the color of a deep and pristine lake. He grasped for a good reply, something clever and memorable, but instead the words "hello, there" tumbled haplessly from his lips. He had no idea who she was, and had a terrible sinking feeling that he was supposed to know, that now he was just being rude and weird, again. By this point, the box that contained them had completed its gentle landing. The girl was no longer looking at him, and he watched as she practically jumped out of the elevator once the doors were wide enough to escape through. He felt the word "wait" tangled on his tongue, but by then she had already fled the lobby, and was outside.

Just beyond the library's glass front doors, Alex halted. He held his book at his side, still keeping his place with one finger, and watched the girl in the blue and white coat striding quickly away, headed across the empty parking lot and toward the edge of Marine Park. Not once did she glance over her shoulder. The wind was gusting hard, narrowing his eyes. He put his book into his bag and shoved his hands into his pockets, and when he was sure she had disappeared, he started in the direction of the island.

He tried to distract himself, thinking of which frozen thing he would heat up for dinner, or whether he should try to do another load of laundry, though it was Sunday, which meant that all the machines would likely be spoken for until well into the evening. He tugged his hood down over his eyebrows and leaned into the grade, watching the progress of his shoes over the gritty sidewalk.

The girl's face was somehow familiar. Did she work at the supermarket? Was he supposed to know her name? Alex was terrible with names, and always seemed to forget them the second he was introduced to someone. He had even considered making a list in his notebook to try to keep track. But there didn't seem to be much of a point, as introductions never seemed to go beyond the formalities, and he tended to avoid conversation in general.

On the opposite side of the bridge, he stopped at the Breeze-In to buy milk and bread for the week. As he waited in line, he stared at their little glass coffee pot, and it finally came to him. The girl was one of the regulars at the cafe, though she had only been coming in for about a week. At around the same time each day, she appeared on the sidewalk outside and put her gloved hand on the door handle, prompting Alex to grab a mug off of the back shelf. He smiled to himself, suddenly remembering more about her, the way her waves of dark brown hair looked arranged in a loose knot on top of her head, that she was always reading a magazine or looking thoughtfully at her laptop.

Now that he had identified her, he was no closer to figuring out why she had spoken to him, but it was far from the first time a stranger had said hello to him and been met with confusion. People were friendly here. He was used to it -- the smiles from the bus driver, waving hands in passing cars on his street. It never went beyond that, and he figured it would be the same with this particular girl.

The next day, she arrived at the cafe around ten o'clock as always. She took her place in the short line that had formed, and by the time she reached the counter, Alex had already prepared her cup of coffee. He stole a look at her face, it was definitely the same girl, but her sleepy blue eyes betrayed nothing. The person behind her was another regular, double vanilla latte to go, so he turned back to the machine to start making shots. By the time he was finished spooning foam over the surface of the drink, the girl was at her usual corner table, studiously reading a paperback. Alex dragged his gaze away from her. He stared out the window. The street was glossy and wet, but the rain had paused for the moment. He folded his arms, and waited for the door to swing open again.

© 2007