Boredom

The man looks away from the window and across the street. His eye
catches the glance of a woman stood looking back at him. He sighs and
steps off the pavement into the road with his hands firmly rooted in
his pockets.
The woman looks back at the window nearest to her and waits. The shop
sells fruit and vegetables and the stand nearest the window holds
oranges, the top layer of which is mouldy. She glares intently at these
oranges and waits. She pauses for a while before looking over her
shoulder.
The girl's eyes flick up from the screen for a split second before
returning to the convex screen of the television. She is staring back
at the figures on the screen, their images moving in the glassy
reflection of her eyeballs. The girl sits in an armchair positioned
directly opposite the television. She is sat up straight, arms resting
on the arms of the chair, legs stiffly bent at the knee, head slightly
bowed. The expression on her face suggests boredom or perhaps she is
daydreaming.
"I don't suppose you'd?"
"No. Get him out of here."
"Why, he's not doing any harm in here!"
"It's a health hazard. Get him out."
The girl shifts in her seat and puts one hand into her lap. She
blinks.

She blinks.

"I can't believe Granddad has lost Granny's ring."
"I know, but at least we should have it back by tomorrow. Alright
Sandra."
"Alright Robbie. Bacon Sandwich please."
The girl scratches her nose and places her hand back into her lap. The
traffic is getting heavier outside.
The woman has begun to wander down the street, the man following close
behind her. He does not go too close to her.
The woman looks over her shoulder a second time. The traffic noise is
becoming louder as rush hour approaches. They walk down the street with
a space of a hundred yards between them. Occasionally they pause to
look in shop windows. The woman enters a shop, a clothes shop. The man
waits outside, leaning on the reflective glass of the shop front.
Inside the shop, the woman watches the man while pushing the clothes
along on the shiny chrome rail. The traffic reflects in the windows of
the shops along the street, it is beginning to slow down. The man
watches the traffic with a small smile.
The girl blinks again. She shifts her weight in the chair.
"You could look for a girlfriend on the internet you know. Everyone's
doing it these days."
"Um, I don't know."
"It's better than doing nothing though innit?"
"You've got nothing to lose have you Robbie?"
"I s'pose not."
Someone walks by the window by the television where the girl is sat.
The girl carries on staring at the television. She smiles in apparent
amusement at the television programme but there is nothing funny.
Creases appear around her young mouth and the smile brings her lips
back to show her white glistening teeth. She allows a giggle to escape.
The edges of her eyes curve upwards to form a face of happiness. She
picks up a strand of her blond hair and begins twisting it slowly in
her fingers.
On the street, the man has lit a cigarette while he waits for the
woman. She makes her choice of a red satin dress and takes it to the
counter. As she waits to be served, she watches the man, waiting. She
clutches the cold metal of the coat hanger, feeling its smoothness
under the soft fabric.
"Can I help you?" asks the cashier.
"Yeah, coffee please." Says Phil.
"What's going on then?
"Nothing important."
The girl stops twisting her hair and puts her hand to her face to rest
her head in her hand, her elbow sitting on the soft arm of the chair.
She sighs. The hand that is not holding her head sits on the other arm
of the chair. As she sits, her fingers curl over the edge of the arms,
slowly gripping the hard, spongy fabric and letting it go again. The
dark colours show up the whiteness of her skin, her painted red nails
making it look even whiter. She sighs again, the air expelling slower
this time.
The woman pays the cashier and as she turns to leave the shop she sees
the man looking at her through the window. She takes a sharp intake of
breath as she sees him as though she is shocked at seeing him looking
at her or perhaps she does not expect him to still be there.
They gaze at each other through the glass with the traffic passing in
the reflection between them. He smiles the kind of smile a pervert
might smile at the woman he has been stalking. She smiles back with a
small giggle. Another woman brushes past and pushes her glance away
from the man. She looks annoyed and when she looks back for the man, he
has gone. Only the cigarette butt on the pavement marks where he had
been stood.
The two women were folding white sheets, in the laundrette, holding
one sheet between them.
"So what do you think then?"
"About what?"
"About Robbie getting a girlfriend on the internet?"
"Well, its alright I s'pose. As long as he doesn't get carried away
like these young people can."
The girl smiles. She shifts in her seat again and leans her head onto
both arms onto the left hand arm of the chair, bending at the waist.
She closes her eyes as if to go to sleep and as she does so the woman
runs out of the shop only to watch the man disappear around the corner.
She follows him. As she rounds the corner he is stood there, waiting.
As they stand looking at each other, breathing heavily, the girl falls
into a deep sleep.