The Button That Was for Him
Kenny was undecided. He'd walked through the entryway and into the open
courtyard for the third time in fifteen minutes. He'd walked up to the
intercom alongside the first stairway on the left. He'd carefully
inspected the selections, even though he'd known perfectly well which
one was for him. He'd walked away for the third time, trying to appear
nonchalant. Now he stood still, looking at the door from a short
distance, trying to sport a face that said: "Yep, only here for the
first time. Bad directions, you know." Of course, all of this was
silly. Kenny had been through that entryway, into this very courtyard,
stood before that intercom, and pushed the button that was for him
dozens of times in the past two years. In fact, he may have pushed it
nearly two hundred times. Kenny had stopped counting long ago.
It was apartment 28, located on the third floor. There were 36
apartments in that stairwell. That meant 36 buttons on the intercom and
36 separate sets of lives, all of them little families of one kind or
another. Even without knowing the number, he knew which button was for
him. It was marked with red magic marker. No name, just the horizontal
red highlight indicating which button was for him. There was no
elevator. After announcing himself, he had a long climb up three
flights of stairs. The windows facing the courtyard meant there was
always at least some light in the stairwell. Of course, they turned on
the stairwell light for him after he buzzed, but it was not always
working. The stairwell smelled of cabbage, cats, concrete, and urine.
The aroma balance shifted depending upon the time of day. The building
was typical of its kind and location, perhaps even a little better than
average.
Kenny had learned a lot in apartment 28. He had been nervous the first
time. He had been nervous for the first year. He remembered hearing
laughter and wishing so much that he could laugh like that too. That
had been his goal. He'd wanted to laugh. It had always been so serious,
so deadly serious. Was that so much to ask, he had wondered. Was that
too much to hope for? If nothing else, at least Kenny had found an
answer to that one question. Kenny had learned to laugh in apartment
28. At long last, he could laugh.
Kenny was still undecided. He'd been here so many times. They all knew
him, and he knew them. That was not necessarily a bad thing. It was
like a little family. That was the nice part. It was a little family.
Of course, the family changed every so often. People come and go, so to
say, but it was still a family. Yet, he hesitated. Maybe it was time to
move on, he thought. Maybe this phase was over. What an awful word,
phase. Kenny hated that word. Phase. "He's just going through a phase.
He'll be ok." Yeah, so much for a father's wisdom, Kenny recalled
grimly. You can't cross a river if there's nothing on the other side,
that's what he knew now. It's too late for his father to know anything.
He's dead. Save your money, his father'd always said, that way when you
die you've got something. Three sighs for the wisdom of the ages, Kenny
said softly to himself, and make them long and deep like the grave in
which they reside.
Kenny felt conspicuous. He was about to walk back out of the courtyard
for the third time when he saw a car pull up to the curb and disgorge
five of his current, shall we say, personal trainers. They were all
laughing and giggling and traipsing through the entryway toward the
first stairwell on the left. Oh well, he thought, and walked toward the
stairwell himself. They saw him. He smiled. He waved hello. They smiled
and giggled and greeted him with the hello chorus. He paused and
motioned for one of them to push the button.
"No, you push the button, Kenny," Anya whispered. "We're playing a
little joke." Kenny laughed and pushed the button. Ah, this is nice, he
thought. What was I thinking, anyway? The five personal trainers
huddled together, softly giggling, hoping they can make their joke
work.
"Hello?"
"Hello."
"How many?"
"One."
"OK. Come up."
The door buzzed open and all six of them entered. It was not easy for
six people to be quiet climbing three flights of concrete stairs in a
concrete stairwell, but they tried.
Shuffle, shuffle, giggle, shhhh, shhhh, shuffle, giggle.
Kenny stood at the door. He knocked. It opened.
Big Darek smiled at Kenny. Then he noticed the girls, frowned,
confused, then everyone broke out laughing. "Oh, for crying out loud,
what are you all doing here?" he asked. As Kenny chuckled his way into
the apartment, Anya explained they were just there to pick up their
things. Management had other plans for them. Big Darek grinned,
shrugged his shoulders in resignation, and motioned for them to be
quick about it.
Kenny was disappointed. He really liked Anya. He liked the others as
well, but especially little Anya. Darek motioned Kenny into the living
room. Kenny waited as the girls bustled around gathering their things.
Soon, four new girls appeared before Kenny and introduced
themselves.
"Dorota."
"Agnieszka."
"Olga."
"Beata."
Kenny considered his options. He was still undecided, but there he was.
From this new perspective, his options looked rather better than when
he'd stood alone in the concrete courtyard a few minutes earlier. A
little ray of joy lifted his heart. Well, he thought, the bigger
questions will have to wait. Right now, the solution to my problem
looks very much like??
"Beata."
