Venetian Blinds: a Short Story

Venetian Blinds

The place was nothing special. Eggshell walls with cracked stucco held March 1999's newest Playboy Playmate "Lexie" Karlsen. Lil' Kim from her Hard Core Album and Janet Jackson on Rolling Stone, now in her post-Rene days adorned the wall, left to right. . Candace eyed everything slowly, read their near naked bodies like a text. There was only one room, a studio apartment. They were on the sixth floor of the building compound.

 Whoever lived there had enough porn to last a couple days. The 8 inch T.V. by SONY sat perched atop the rickety entertainment center made of cheap wood. On each level sat one plant, each in a state of serious dehydration. The wilted leaves seemed to be losing their pulse, they begged for some nutritional attention. Cigarette butts lay sprawled  just beyond an ashtray made of fractured glass. Somebody had taken the liberty of making coffee awhile ago and had left out two cups as if anticipating company. The kitchen was compact; at the most two paces from the entertainment center which was the unfortunate focal point of the room. Once glossy hardwood floors directed the gaze from the corner of the pleather cream loveseat to the door, leading to what could only be the bathroom.

The room smelt gray. Spots of lint and ashes shied away just above the lip of the kitchen sink and left smeary trails at the foot of the brown refrigerator. 

She flitted her eyes back to the entertainment center.  Old records were stacked in the corner, with no record player in sight. Marvin Gaye's:  What's Going On  peeked wearily from beneath yet another glass ash tray on the top of the album pile. This one in the shape of a marijuana leaf.

"Is this your crib?" she asked throwing herself akimbo while stuffing her knuckles in the back pockets of her guess jeans. The boy smiled a toothy grin and licked his lips.

"You can sit down if you want."

Walking over quickly to the loveseat he plopped down letting his legs open wider than his arms, which he placed easily behind his head.  She leaned on the back of the couch as he turned on the television. Then found the only window on  the side of the room near the piled heap of blankets on the floor and a worn-down comforter.

The venetian blinds were a dingy white, just the same as everything else in the room. They looked old and unsalvageable. She walked over to the blinds, and pressed her index finger down gently bending the blinds to peer out at the city. The grime from the windows made her unable to see much, but she did see the setting sun and below an ant trace of her girlfriends and his guy-friends hamming it up on the stoop right near the dirty sidewalk. The filth was in their homes, their bodies and their view...constantly Candace thought bitterly. She let the blind go suddenly letting the popping noise bring her attention.

"Don't try to open it, it's jammed shut." Candace turned her eyes to the boy sitting on the couch with the turquoise, black and white baseball cap; He cracked his knuckles causing the tendons in his shoulder down to his biceps to flex ever so gently.

"Can I use your bathroom real quick?" He half turned to give her a nod flicking through the channels. The light from the sun setting cast a long shadow against the boy's side darkening one half of his face and body down past his ribcage. She moved toward the bathroom trying to block the light and  the rising feeling of unease within her. He hadn't spoken or seemed to notice much, just flicked aimlessly through the TV channels.

After gingerly closing the bathroom door Candace instantly flicked on the light to survey her face and then took in her surroundings. The dark brown floor mat with extra long carpet hairs felt plush-like beneath her jelly red sandals. She checked her new shapely legs for bruises from volley ball. Then she loosened her tan leather belt from around her short shorts, let the zipper down and squatted over the beige toilet seat. The water inside was a deep navy and quickly changed to a Kelly green. Flushing she stood to wash her hands but found the lack of soap, or rather a bar the size of uselessness.  She wet her hands in the warm water then wiped her hands on the butt of her faded jean shorts. Playing incessantly with her Chinese bang she thought to add some honey highlights to her reddish brown mane. Pulling her shoulder length hair up in a high pony tail she considered if this made her boobs look bigger like the upper class girls, then sighed at the lacking red tank top she had on. Retouching her strawberry lip gloss and finger arching her eyebrows she sucked in her stomach and flicked off the bathroom light returning to the boy and his loveseat.