Issue 15
Rain
Jennifer L. Baum
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Dancing through the Rain
He danced with clean, fluid movements in front of his window. Stephanie
peered out of her darkened apartment into his. She watched him through a
curtain of rain.
Backlit by the flickering of the muted television he danced to music she
could not hear. His silhouette glided first to one side then the other in a
rhythmic waltz. His posture was perfect. His head tilted at a precise dancer
's angle, his arms offering his partner a protective embrace as he led the
way around the dance floor.
Yet he held no partner. Every night he danced alone. Every night she
watched, imagining herself sheltered in his arms. He moved with athletic
grace and artistic conviction, removed from daily troubles.
Perhaps if she'd met him at a party, or seen him across a crowded room she
might have had the courage to approach him. But no, she'd seen him at her
doorstep, not in a tuxedo ready to sweep her off her feet, but in a
sanitation worker's uniform collecting garbage. She wondered if he smelled
of aftershave or the labors of his work. She couldn't imagine explaining him
to her white-collar friends. Better to just watch him through the rain.
~Jennifer L. Baum
Freelance writer Jennifer L. Baum's short stuff has appeared in flashquake, Mocha Memoirs, and Scrivener's Pen. Email.
© 2004 by Jennifer L. Baum. All Rights Reserved.
© Copyright 2004 by Cayuse Press. All Rights Reserved.