People from Bloomington by Budi Darma

Author:Budi Darma [Darma, Budi]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2022-04-12T00:00:00+00:00

YORRICK

At first, Grant Street caught my attention because it was paved in brick, not asphalt. This made it lovelier than the other, ordinary roads. So I made a point of taking it every day. Soon, I also found myself drawn to the trees lining its length. The trees were very old—older than those elsewhere, yet sturdier and more elegant. I then began to take a shine to the old house on the corner, which faced South Tenth. By degrees, I found myself falling deeper and deeper in love with this street. And steeped in this love, I felt the need to walk along it as much as possible. I would take it to get to the Union building; I would take it to get downtown; I would take it to the Caveat Emptor bookstore; and even if I was heading to College Mall, which was a long way from Grant and actually closer to the dorm where I lived, I’d go the long way around and take Grant anyway. And if I didn’t have any plans to go anywhere, I still had to get out, still had to walk down this street. And since there was never anyone else around, I often took my time, lingering in this spot or that for a while.

And even though I remained madly in love with the street, and the trees lining its length, and the old house on the corner of South Tenth, it never occurred to me that I’d even end up falling in love with a woman who lived in the old house. Initially, I had no idea that she was watching me all the time. At first, I didn’t even realize that there was a woman upstairs at all. I only found out when I was turning onto Grant from South Tenth one day and suddenly caught a glimpse of her on the balcony, retreating into her room. I sensed she must have gone inside in order to avoid being seen by me. Then I sensed her watching me from behind the curtains. After this, every time she happened to be in her room when I passed by, I felt her gaze. Finally, I decided I would walk down Grant Street at set times each day. And I could sense that she eventually became familiar with my schedule. And I could sense her there, always waiting for me.

At first, it seemed that getting in touch with her would be simple. There was a small nameplate on the front of the old house bearing the name Harrison. I would look her up in the phone book—at least this was what I thought. After searching the phone book, I discovered that Harrisons were numerous indeed. And as for the first name of the Harrison I was trying to track down, I had no idea what it was. There was James Harrison, John Harrison, and Rex Harrison; Samuel Harrison, Torin Harrison, and other Harrisons galore. But the Harrison who lived at 7353 South Tenth Street wasn’t listed.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.