04.29.2002
Lyle and Courtney had shared a window that looked into each other's rooms since they were little. Courtney lived in the little house on 1024 Plum Street and Lyle on 1026. Together the two of them had grown up, peaking into the other's room every so often as to discern whether the other was home or awake. If so, one would lean out the window and wave until the other had taken notice and lean out their window too. Then they would talk, sometimes late into the night about the little things that were on their minds. Courtney would complain endlessly about the piano lessons her mother had forced upon her and Lyle about after school tutors his father had hired for him on subjects he was not very good at – which proved to be most. Lyle and Courtney, though the same age, never did date and had never believed it to be odd that they didn't.
After high school, Courtney, because of her good grades and intelligent disposition, ended up enrolled in a university on the other side of the country. Lyle, because of his bad grades but also because of his desire to work hard, also got into college, but at a state school, far enough from home that it was no longer plausible to live with his parents. Because of various summer school sessions taken and trips to places other than home, Lyle and Courtney did not see one another until just after graduation, Courtney with a degree in physics and Lyle in education.
One night, just out of curiosity, Courtney leaned out of her window and waved at the lighted one across the narrow strip of grass that was between their parent's homes. Lyle, reading at his desk, caught sight of the movement in the corner of his eye and turned to greet his waving friend.
"Hello," he said as he pushed his entire torso out his window and counterbalanced with his legs. "It's been a long time."
"Yes," she agreed and smiled.
Lyle returned her smile and asked of her plans now that she had graduated.
"Oh," she said. "Lot's of things. I'm going to go back to school and get my Masters, then probably my PhD," she said with an offhanded flip of her hand giving Lyle the idea that it was as important as running to the store.
"Wow," he said in return.
"What about you," she asked.
"I'm moving down state to become a school teacher," he said almost sheepishly. Courtney laughed a friendly laugh with the full knowledge of his troubles with books. Lyle grinned back and said, "I figure, who better to help kids than someone like me."
"Sounds okay to me," Courtney said. "Sounds okay to me."
The two of them chatted late into the night, finally retreating back into their own rooms and falling asleep, just before the dawn had broken. She hadn't mentioned it, but Courtney had a plane to catch the next morning so when Lyle glanced across the way, he found the window dark until he, himself, had to leave.
Time ticked along until Lyle's father, long suffering from a bad heart, finally gave in and died. Lyle had driven up from his home downstate with his wife and little girl to attend the funeral and help his mother. The night of the funeral, while his wife, daughter, and mother were out doing whatever it was that women did when they grieved, Lyle found himself correcting papers at his old desk when he saw that the window across from him was bright. Seizing the opportunity for a cigarette his wife wouldn't know about, he leaned out and lit up, waving his other arm to get Courtney's attention. Eventually, she saw him and came out too.
"Hi," he said, enjoying every puff but hoping his lovely bride would never find out.
"Hi," she said.
"I saw your light on and thought I'd say hello," he said. "How are you?"
"I'm okay," she said, but her frown said otherwise.
"It's been ten years," Lyle said remembering. "Did you get your PhD?"
"Yep," she said.
"Is something the matter," he asked.
"My husband and I are getting a divorce," she said slowly and Lyle could see tears beginning to roll down her cheeks. "I'm living here for a little while," Courtney said, trying to collect her self.
"I'm sorry," Lyle said.
"It's not your fault," she said. "Unless there's something I don't know."
The two of them chuckled at her joke then Lyle stubbed out his cigarette.
"Are you still teaching," she asked.
"Oh, yeah," he said. "Still teaching. Best job in the world," he said, clearly happy with the place he made for himself. "I've got a daughter too," he beamed but then regretted he had because of her recent marital problems.
"That's great," she said. "How old?"
"She's five. Five years old."
Lyle lit another cigarette and the two of them continued to talk until his women returned at which point he hastily stubbed out his butt and waved good bye to his friend before retreating back inside. For the remainder of Lyle's time in his parent's house, he found himself too busy to hang outside the window and to see any more of his friend and, before he knew it, he was back on the road to his own home.
Over the years their schedules refused to coincide and, when Lyle's own heart stopped like his father's, the two of them never saw each other again. It was in Lyle's will that when died, his parent's house, the house in which he had grown up in and refused to sell after his mother's death, was to go to his only daughter and her own family which included a son named after his grandfather. Courtney's son, born to her after meeting a new husband upon her return after the divorce, discovered that she owned a house that was not the one he had grown up in and moved his family across the country into it from the small apartment they had previously rented on his paltry salary hoping to provide his own child with a better standard of living.
Lyle's grandson, had seen the family move in next door but had taken little notice of who they were until one night, as he tried to go to sleep, he noticed that the light from the opposite window blazed into his own and prevented him from doing so. Pulling himself out of bed, he opened the glass and leaned through, waving his arms until the other occupant saw him. Finally, he knew he'd been seen and watched as she opened the window across from him.
"Hey," he said. He had forgotten why he originally tried to get her attention and instead found himself speechless as he looked at the pretty girl across from him.
"Hey," she said. "You must be my next door neighbor."
"Uh, yeah," he said. "I'm Lyle."
"Hi," she grinned. "I'm Courtney."