Witnesses
“This Friday we can get tipsy; I’ll cry, you’ll tell me I’m beautiful, read to me…”
“Stop. Tell me more. There’s nothing I want more than that,” Adam answered, his heart pounding as he imagined her reclining on a bed. He worried his voice had failed to convey just how surreal he felt. Hurrying across the road with the phone pressed against his right cheek, he wondered whether the walk-and-talk interruptions were ruining the mood.
“Sorry—just crossed the road.”
Why did the man cross the road?
“It’s okay. I don’t want you too distracted out there. I can be a bit more boring. How’s the weather?”
“Oh, please do distract me. But fine—weather’s fine.” He looked at wispy clouds against the indigo of the evening sky. Shadow-lidded moon.
“I just wish I had some forest nearby—actual nature, you know? I’d go out more often. It’d be easier to relax. No motors gashing the day. Wind through leaves.”
“My poet. I know. It’s something I don’t think about often because I’m pretty much surrounded by the most gorgeous trails north of Hadrian’s. Okay, I’m sorry, I don’t mean to make you jealous.” Her melodious, distant voice took primacy as the familiar streets faded. He walked on autopilot, turning her over and over in his mind, somehow managing to tune out the din of traffic.
“…Or do I?” Her giggle tickled his ear.
“Oh god, I am jealous! No, but seriously—I am happy that you have easy access to that kinda beauty. I’m sorta screwed without a car. Can’t get anywhere nice spontaneously. Well, not conveniently.”
He reached a park near an intersection, and when his eyes lingered over a row of empty benches, he decided he could idle there a while longer.
“Really, though. I know you don’t like me going on about it, but you don’t understand what talking to you does to me. Maybe I’m a little dramatic, but hearing your voice here, now, contrasted with what I’m seeing… Last time I felt this way…”
“Ooh, well tell me. What are you seeing?”
“Hah, okay. Creative exercise. Well, let’s see what boring stuff I’m seein’.” He sighed gravely.
“I’m sitting here on a bench, and there’s a monument in front of me—”
“Mhm,” she purred.
“No, come on, don’t mhm that way—you’re gonna kill me! I’m outside, I can’t get all…”
She laughed again, betraying calculated mischief.
“Okay, no more naughty mhms. So, the monument, is it impressive?”
“Oh god no. It’s like a lil’ stacked tower of building blocks, and…” He leaned forward, squinting for focus, “huh, I don’t think I ever bothered reading what it says on the plaque. This whole time living here, seeing this ugly damn thing.”
Leaning back, he continued.
“Anyway, I don’t mean to be a downer, but looks like it’s some kind of memorial to ‘victims of terror’.”
“Oh. Wow.”
“Okay—let’s not go there.” Noticing her tone wilting, he attempted to pivot. “I don’t wanna bum you out, and I think about that stuff too much anyway. It’s not interesting.”
“It doesn’t ‘bum me out’—I’m just sorry you’re over there. We can talk about it if you—what’s that sound?”
A small cat burst forth from nearby bushes.
“You can hear that?”
“God, yeah! Is that a cat? It’s so loud!”
“Hey, hey! What? Netu u menya nichego!” Cooing in Russian, laughing, he got up from the bench as the stray brushed against his legs and swirled between them.
“Here, I gotta show you—hold on.”
He switched to video, pointing his phone at the loud stray.
“Can you see it? I think it’s a girl.” He crouched to scratch her between the ears as she pushed against his shins, nearly making him lose his balance.
“Ohmygod, she’s adorable. You don’t have anything to feed her with?”
“No, nothing! Oh god—it’s like she’s gonna kill me if I don’t feed her. It’s been ages since I had a cat. I forgot how insane they get when hungry.”
He retreated from the bench, avoiding stepping on the stray’s paws and tail. He gave the camera one last look before turning it off.
“Wait! Poor kitty—don’t leave her!”
“Don’t worry. She’ll be fine. People here feed her constantly.” He checked the time: 19:47.
“And you know, I think I should be heading back now. That was probably enough of a walk for today.”
“Oh, so we’re already getting to the we-run-out-of-things-to-talk-about stage? Sending me off?”
“No, come on! I just… I know you have some work left to do and—”
“Adam.” His name lilted from the phone, from her lovely, accented tongue.
“I’m just teasing. Be careful on the way back, okay? And think of Friday.”
He lingered, then thanked her—struggling to let go. With the phone in his pocket, the solitude he no longer registered settled over the evening. Chirping of unseen bats. The path ahead was occasionally punctuated by small, erratically dashing shadows—roaches on the prowl. Passing through a narrow street, Adam paused beneath a streetlamp embowered by a tree. Its light refracted on the leaves and blossoming flowers, casting a greenish-purple shimmer onto the brick road.
On the final stretch to the apartment, the street seemed unusually empty, which emboldened a neighborhood stray to dig through an overflowing garbage can. Adam slowed his pace, observing the cat’s urgent jerks—its head unseen in a mound of trash. Then, after a successful pull, a large bag came loose and tumbled onto the pavement, with the cat jumping after it. Despite Adam’s slow approach, the silence of the street betrayed his step, and the ravenous cat spotted him. Eyes widened with fear or guilt, the stray abandoned its scavenged morsels and dashed away.
Before entering the apartment building, Adam glanced at the eye in the sky, weighing its constancy. Hello, O Moon. Upstairs, he unlocked the door, entered, and crouched to untie his shoes. A cat greeted him, nuzzling warmly.