Lover in the Window

Sweet Freedom

"That orbed maiden, with white fire laden, Whom mortals call the moon, Glides glimmering o'er my fleece-like floor, By the midnight breezes strewn."

― Percy Bysshe Shelley

The morning mist is just hovering above the large field of grass as Eli cranks open the door of his guest house to let the sun in. He throws his curtains open wide, letting sharp beams of light pierce through. He loved having the property to himself, which feels seemingly out in the middle of nowhere; there is something just other worldly about it. I need to get this heap in order. He looks over the inside of the little house, and out across the lawn, and over to the large metal barn. Before long, he's digging through the closet pulling out a broom - a dust pan - a mop - some Clorox spray - some more scented candles (left behind by some unknown persons), and lastly a pack of baby wipes.

For Eli, the simple act of cleaning is always a meditative process. He could allow himself a moment apart from reality, to rationalize himself, to somehow deliberate with his soul. In this state of mind - he can look, but in looking, he can also see. He can see the old paint of his kitchenette beginning to flake. The white, hairline fractures, starting to snake up the wall as they were only in their infancy. He swept out the entire room, then poured out all his cleaning agents on the wooden floor, then mopped it all up, leaving it with a mirror shine.

He has an old couch sitting in the right-hand corner as you'd enter, but moves that over next to the closet across the room. He wanted to occupy the space that he rarely uses, freeing up space that he more frequently uses. That looks much better, Eli reflect with a swift hand through his brown hair, and little beads of sweet accumulating on his forehead that he shook off. It almost looks like an adult lives here.

Puffy white clouds engulfed the entire southern sky as Eli walks across the lawn, on his way to the giant storage unit/garage. Unfortunately, the fireball in the sky has direct access to him, beating down on his scalp, forehead, and chest. Even though he has changed into his cargo shorts and took his shirt off, it still feels like a septillion degree. The metal roofing is so hot that it sends waves upward, distorting the spectrum behind them; the mountain appeared to dance from Eli's point of view. Earlier that morning, he overheard the televisions weather woman say something about an all high record. A goddam heat wave.

He stands in front of two large, white metal doors of the 44 x 31 x 12 vertical metal barn and cranks one upward. The door rolled across the tracks of the ceiling, revealing a beige Foreman 400 ATV, and a red Trailmaster Challenger UTV. (Tracy had always called them Climbers). Both are caked in dry mud, and needed a good cleaning. Seeing how Eli wanted to play in the water hose he did just that. On the wall, there is four metal hooks that he had screwed in, and on those hooks are the keys to both climbers. He removes the foreman first, opening it up wide open, as the engine shook, and reared like a wild steal horse, being in front of the house in five seconds. He walks back to get the other climber, the side by side, and shoots out of the storage unit like a bullet. He skids across the green lawn, ripping up a trail as he goes, flinging pebbles, soil, and grass behind him.

Once parked, he retrieves the water hose from the hose rack, just on the right side of the front porch. Sprays both of them down. Once clean, and just as the sun starts to vaporize the muddy puddle of water soaking into the gravel, Eli takes a seat on the steps of the porch.

I wonder if the girls will go riding when they get home? I wonder if Raven would ride with me? How am I going to do this? I just want a little more time with her. Maybe, never mind, that's absurd - she wouldn't. I don't think. She wouldn't want to stay with me, permanently, stay forever. I can provide for us. I have my inheritance from mom. I'd be crazy not to ask. Raven is as part of my childhood memories as I'm a part of my childhood memories. It's like since the beginning of time, Raven Rivera and all her wit is there with me.