What if I ain't no violinist?

98. Twoset Window Cleaner II

That afternoon after Eddy finished his shift as a window cleaner, he had returned his equipment and signed off and it was as he was getting changed from his work uniform coveralls into his commuting clothes he realised he could finally check his phone that was in his zipped pocket in his coveralls. He grinned as he took it out and turned on its screen to see the missed phone call from the man in the high rise building. The missed call must have been from when he rang him across the glass window. Not only was there a missed call but also a text.

Hi, I'm Brett.

Eddy grinned happily as he gazed at his text.

Just at that moment, his phone started to vibrate with an incoming call. It was from a familiar number, his shift supervisor.

"Keith?"

"Hi Eddy. I know you just finished your shift but can you do another half shift?"

"Um, yeah, sure."

"Are you sure? You were up on a high-rise today, right? You feel you're you up for another one?"

"Yeah, I feel fine, I can do it."

"That's great. It's handy you're still there. It's the same building but its west side. Just the top 5 floors. They have a real estate agent photoshoot for the penthouses."

"Oh.. okay, not a problem, is it okay if I have a bite to eat first and go back up after that ?"

"Yeah sure, so long as it's done by 3 o'clock?"

"Sure, that's easy. I should be done by 2:30 at the latest."

"That's great, Eddy, I'll complete your overtime sheet, I'll make it till 3pm. Thanks!!"

Eddy sat on a nearby park bench as he chewed on his sandwich he purchased from a nearby shop. He took out his phone again and looked at the text he received from "Brett". He had already saved the phone number on his phone. He was wondering how he should respond. He grinned and started typing.

Hi, I'm Eddy.

Eddy thought he'd just reply the way Brett sent his first message. He bit his lower lip as he pressed send.

He stared at his screen for a few seconds, then sighed and put his phone down on his lap to use both hands to open his water bottle. As he took a swig, his phone vibrated. He almost spat out the mouthful of water. He must have received a reply. He quickly picked up his phone from his lap and turned on his screen.

Hi, Eddy. Finished your shift? Wanna meet up for a coffee?

Eddy grimaced as he rolled his eyes upwards to the sky. He had never regretted agreeing for overtime as much as he had now...!

Would love to but booked for overtime. Next time?

Sure.

Eddy bit his lower lip. He hoped Brett believed him. The last thing Eddy wanted was Brett to think that he was trying to weasel out of a coffee date with him.

Eddy initially thought he just saw another cat on the other side of the glass. He then realised it was the same cat he saw this morning when he cleaned the window on the other side of the building. He recognised the little black patch the cat had on its forehead in the shape of a kidney bean.

"You live in the penthouse huh? Your owners must make millions."

Eddy gave the cat a few extra swishes with his squidgy.

He didn't see any toddlers. Perhaps it was their nap time.

He lowered his scaffold to another level.

As Eddy approached the window, he noticed there was activity in the room. It appeared there was a person in the corner of the room with vigorous movement but he was not able to clearly see what the person was doing. Eddy usually didn't stare into the resident's rooms but the movement was unusual in a way that the person appeared to remain stationary in one spot yet show a lot of upper body movement. When Eddy's vision adjusted to the darker part of the room, he was able to see a man playing the violin. Eddy could not hear anything. Not even a note. Eddy used to play the violin himself when he was younger and knew how penetrative its sound could be. He was impressed with the effect of the soundproof double glazed glass.

Eddy started cleaning the glass. He didn't notice the person had finished playing as he could not hear anything. He only noticed the violinist had stopped playing when he was standing in front of him on the other side of the glass.

It was Brett.

OMG.

It now made sense why Brett didn't try to talk to Eddy through the soundproof double glazed windows this morning. If anyone had an appreciation of soundproof glass, it would be a violinist.

Eddy's smile was returned with Brett's. At least that's what Eddy initially thought until he realised he had his sunglasses and mask on. He quickly removed his sunglasses and pulled down his mask. The simple act of showing his face felt very intimate as Brett watched him from the other side of the glass. They now shyly smiled at each other for a good 10 seconds or so.

Finally, Eddy shook his head as he did before to regain his focus and went back to work. He was glad Brett saw him working so that he would now know that Eddy wasn't lying about not being able to have coffee with him because he was working.

When he finished cleaning Brett's window and was about to lower the scaffold down, Eddy looked into the glass again and his gaze met Brett's. Brett held his thumb and pinky to his ear and mouth, then mouthed something that appeared like "call me". Well at least Eddy wished that's what Brett was trying to say but he was uncertain about the hand signal. He vaguely recalled Keith, his boss who was closer to his parents' age do that signal to him once and said it was for a "phone call", though Eddy had no idea why. He wondered how old Brett was. He looked pretty young but maybe he was much older than he looked..?

Meanwhile, Brett was gazing at Eddy as he disappeared from his field of view as the scaffold was lowered and wondered why Eddy had looked so confused. Surely Eddy would know the hand signal for a phone call was? Perhaps he was much younger than what Brett guessed he was? Brett was pleased with the pleasant surprise of seeing Eddy again revisiting to clean his window because he now knew that Eddy genuinely had to work and wasn't brushing him off from Brett asking him out for coffee. Brett smiled and hoped Eddy would call or text him when his shift ended.