The Nocturne

Die Fledermaus

   I took my opportunity to escape, not wanting to be stuck with Duke and his poker buddies for the remainder of the  night. Besides which, I was already running late for work. I had a late-night shift at La fetta di Verita, which I suspected  would involve myself, cycling around London on the rickety, old bike owned by the pizzeria, delivering takeaway pizza until the early hours of the morning. I already felt an overbearing sense of doom, and I could hear the rain spattering down outside the kitchen window yet again. I made the concerted decision right then, to exit the kitchen, and snatching my painting from where Duke had abandoned  it on the kitchen table, I moved quickly towards the door. I noticed that Madeline had assumed the character of Atē, and ignoring all of what had gone before, she had gone back to her original preoccupation of preening herself in the mirror. She was currently tying a preposterous looking, large black and white, ostrich feather into her hair and was clearly not interested in discussing with me,  what we both may or may not have witnessed earlier. As I did not wish to see any more horror reflected in that Lamus-like reflective surface, I took my painting and made my way out of the kitchen. 

   As I walked out of the door, I walked straight into Ray, the phantom other tenant of Bloomfield House, seldom seen by me, and the housemate whom I had never spoken too.  He was wearing his firefighter's uniform, so I supposed he was on a night shift too. And as I had walked into him, or rather straight into a place on his body around the height of his armpit, as he was such a hulking figure that he dwarfed me, I apologised profusely.  He inaudibly grumbled some kind of apology back too me, clearly out of obligation if nothing else. But by being in such proximity to him, I was shocked not only by his overwhelming size, but I was also disconcerted when I caught a an unpleasant aroma arising from his person.  He had an almost chemical smell which I could not place, and an odd dank odour, like that of damp clothes, left to go stale and turn musty. A rank type of scent like mould or decay which wafted from his unkempt uniform, and seeing that vestment close up, it was the first time that I noticed how dishevelled and crumpled it was. I wondered if he slept in it.  As he spoke the curt utterance to me, a stench of sweat and rancid breath overwhelmed me, and I wondered if he ever brushed his teeth. 

   Madeline spotted him and seemingly unfazed by the fetid fragrance he omitted, and the a taint of ammonia that lingered behind him in the hallway, she waved at him and called out cheerily. "Evening Big Ray," Delivered with a school-girlish sounding giggle, and in her previously flirtatious and coquettish tone, which i had thought she reserved for Duke alone. Ray only half-turned his head towards her, and half-heartedly raised  a hand to wave back, he seemed to me to be preoccupied with something, as if some heavy burden was on his back.  Perhaps it was. 

   "Off to work Big Ray."  Cooed Madeline and Ray merely grunted something inaudible in reply. I thought he looked exhausted and weary. Clearly too many night shifts taking their toll. 

  "Them cats up trees won't save themselves. " Retorted Madeline, in what I suspect she saw as a  playful and humorous remark. I believe she meant it as a light-hearted comment, but in reality it sounded rather snide,  patronising and undermining.  Evidently Ray thought this too because he finally turned around to fully face her, snorted loudly with a tone of disgust and then turned  his surly, bear-like body around and stomped off down the stairs. 

   "Oh! Honestly Big Ray! I was just teasing."  Madeline called out after him in exasperation. 

   We heard muffled voices from downstairs and then the door slammed shut with an almost unnatural level of force. The thump so loud all the windows rattled.   

   "Bloody hell! My windows!" Madeline yelped in dismay. "Oh, some people just can't take a joke." 

   "It may have been a little insensitive." I stated candidly. "He looks very fatigued. It is clearly not an easy job he has."