Room with a view is what the ad said. Small studio apartment with a nice view. There wasn't many places I could afford so I arranged a time for a showing.
It had been three long months of waiting for the divorce to be settled so I was eager for a fresh start.
The little apartment was situated above a garage behind the house on a corner lot. It was an older part of town with many well kept homes. The neighbors were mostly filled with retirees and young white collar workers.
The landlord was an older mature widow woman who exuded an aire of sophistication and elegance. She was very pleasant and had a regal manner about her. She greeted me and showed me the apartment. It was small but clean. It had a small kitchenette, a small bathroom and an open space to fill with a small amount of furniture. I didn't have much but it would be enough to fill the space.
There was a small window over the sink with a view of the backyard of the house across the street. The only other window was a baywindow looking at the house next door. Hardly the view that was advertised in the ad but since I needed something now that wasn't too expensive so I decided to take it.
The next few days consisted of moving and buying necessities for the apartment. I couldn't find curtains for the bay window but considering that there were no two story houses I figured that it wouldn't matter much in the way of privacy, besides I would have plenty of light during the day and moonlight at night while I slept.
As I said before the ad touted the apartment as having a room with a view which actually meant a view of the neighbors house and backyard mainly. I didn't mind because I felt I had a sense of privacy. I would later find out that that was not entirely true.
On my first weekend at the apartment I woke to sunshine shining down on me since the window was facing East. A little anoying but not too bad. I had morning sun so I wouldn't be troubled with bright afternoon light that was in the hottest part of the day.
I got up and stumbled into the bathroom to relieve myself and get a quick shower. Brushed my teeth and made myself some coffee. I sat down on the ledge of the bay window and stared out the window watching the birds chirping and looking for breakfast.
I noticed the next door neighbor come out onto his back patio and lighting up a cigarette. He was tall, slim but toned. He had short but full brown hair and a classic 70's mustache. He was tanned and had a hairy chest. A man's man. His robe was partially opened so it was easy to get a good look at him.
He took a long drag off his cigarette and stared out across his backyard. He finished up his cigarette then went back inside. I was in my pajamas and still feeling lazy so I turned on the television and looked for the sports channel to check out any pregame shows before the game later that day.
Soon I heard the unmistakable sound of a mower being cranked. I looked out the window and saw the neighbor pushing his mower back and forth across his lawn.
The yard was well kept and I assumed this was his weekend ritual, probably knocking it out before any football games started. I'm sure the other neighbors were used to it and I didn't mind since I wouldn't want to hear that noise while I watched the game.
