I still am not sure exactly why I did nothing but stare. I made no attempt to stop him. I just stood there, half in shock, half aroused.
Less than an hour earlier, I had decided to call it quits and head home early. It was a random decision. I could afford to do it. I owned the business. I had good people working for me. It was a simple, random decision that ushered me to this moment of paralysis.
The 10 minute drive home was uneventful. Green lights. Red lights. Mindless piloting of the vehicle. By the time I pulled in the driveway, I was already disengaged from the office.
I slid the gear shift into park. I pushed the start/stop button, opened the car door and stepped out. Casually, without much thought of anything, I stepped across the circular driveway that arched across the lush landscape in front of our house. Just before I reached the Corinthian columns that framed the entryway, I noticed the side gate was slightly open.
Curious.
I went to close it. I reached out and grabbed a sheath of the black, ornamental, rot iron fence. But just as I began to pull it...
Curiosity.
Why was the gate open? There was no scheduled gardening or pool service scheduled for Thursdays. Instead of pulling it shut and making my way to the front door, I stepped inside and wandered down the gravel trail that meandered along the perimeter of our home towards the backyard patio and pool area.
My heart rate was elevated just a little bit. My mind was slowly engaging, considering the fleeting possibilities of something askew. It was not fear or terror or anxiety or some dark anticipation of malice.
It was curiosity.
The patio was silent, except for the rain forest like chirps of birds flittering about. The pool was glistening with a glassy surface and that magnetic, Caribbean blue water. All was quiet and in place. No signs of foul play. Yet the gate. Why?
I stepped from the rocky path to the smooth slabs of granite symmetrically aligned poolside leading to the lush greenery of the landscaping expanding along the eastern edge of the backroom of our home. Walls of glass from floor to ceiling, affording picturesque views of the pool through the foliage, made the backroom one of the most scenic points in the entire neighborhood. How ironic that it would be the scene I was about to see while looking inward that would be the view I would never forget.
I was not trying to be stealthy or secretive. But I was marginal cautious. Still unsure of why the gate had been left ajar.
Curious.
I saddled along the eastern wall, dark shadows swallowing me as I ducked beneath the low hanging branches and leaves of the South American themed plant-life. It was about a dozen or so steps along the transparent wall before my vision first registered the first inkling of motion at the periphery. Inside. On the couch.
Curious.