Win-Window

I'm looking out my window, and for the first time in a while I have a view. I'm reminded of a story from a book of scary short fiction that everyone was reading when I was in grade school. Several old men are roommates, and each has a bed positioned in accord with their seniority in the apartment. The most senior of them has his bed by the window, and he describes wondrous things that he can see which stoke jealousy among the others. They kill him, only to find that his window looked out to a brick wall. Things never were so grim or grisly for me, but I did have nothing to look at for two years except the equally humble and virtually identical apartment building next door with our cramped parking lot in between.

There was never anything to see across the way and little in the lot below. I could hear mildly interesting disputes occasionally, and people coming home late after having more interesting evenings than I. Finding any fun in what I observed that way was awfully tough, and couldn't compare with the intrigue I turned up when I left the house. Where I now sit however, there's quite a bit to see. I'm up on the third floor, which is actually the fourth story when one counts the street-level parking garage. I'm not nearly as high up as I was in the two buildings I called home in Chicago, but it's not too bad.

There may be a rooftop directly across, but it's slightly lower so that I can see past and around it. If I look off to the left I see commercial buildings out on the main street. To the right is a building I know a friend lives in. Across are what I presume are meant to be contemporary and fashionable apartment buildings or condos. They look needlessly expensive. There are also plenty of trees. I like that, and am thinking of getting a very small potted plant  for the sill to further indulge my paternal instincts. I picture a little cactus to which I can give the name I might have given to a puppy. Maybe Bob would be a good one. I would prefer to personify my plant.

Looking down below is maybe the most exciting angle. I never have thought of myself as being afraid of heights any more than the average person is, but it may be that I'm a little more some at least than some. If I go over to our balcony and lean over, I feel struck by alarm immediately. It may not even be high enough to be fatal, but I know that I don't care for it. Back in Chicago, they did not trust us to have egress through our windows. Here it's a more trusting or laissez-faire attitude. So far that has paid off, as I'm unaware of any trouble. If there were some, it might be worth it. I really do enjoy this view in spite of the not so wonderful weather we're enduring presently.