Making A Friend

Theresa ventured out of her apartment and began walking. She had been in the city for a couple of months now, but she hadn’t met so much as a single neighbor. Sure, she spoke to people at work – about work. Other than that, she had not had any prolonged human contact. 

         She had read on the internet that there were approximately ninety eight thousand people living in this city with her. She saw tons of people on the sidewalk, the city buses, the trolley, even in cars driving past. However, seeing them was not the same as having an actual interaction with them.

         Today she had decided to take this walk. She was off today, and the weather was nice. She was determined to meet someone and have a prolonged interaction. 

         She came upon a cute little coffee shop nestled between a Walgreens and a Wendy’s. She made a spur of the moment decision to step inside. She walked in and sat down. The waitress, Francine, came over to take her order. Theresa attempted to strike up a conversation, but was immediately shot down, as the waitress stated that she was busy and would just like to take her order. 

         Once Theresa finished her cup of coffee, she struck out again. She was determined that the waitress would not set the precedent for her day. Coming up to a city park, she selected a bench that was fairly clean and sat down. A lady with a stroller came up and sat on the other end of the bench.

         Theresa tried talking to her, but she was only interested in changing her baby’s diaper and going on her way. A few minutes later, an elderly gentleman sat down. Surely, Theresa thought, he will want to talk. This turned out not to be the case. The old man was surly and rude, and eventually Theresa gave up and walked away.

         Theresa decided she would take a bus. Certainly she could strike up a conversation there. She would have a captive audience. Unfortunately, that didn’t work, either. She first sat next to an elderly lady, who was so interested in her knitting that she was completely oblivious to the fact that Theresa was sitting there, much less talking. 

         Once the lady got off, a young girl of about eighteen got on and sat down. Theresa tried talking to her, but the girl hurled a few non conversational words in her direction, then got up and moved to a different seat.

         She invited a young man to sit down, but he just made a rude one finger gesture in her direction and got off at the next stop. Theresa rode to the end of the line, then exited the bus, feeling more down and discouraged than ever.

         She stopped off at a sandwich shop and had a bite of lunch. It seemed to her that everyone had someone to eat with except her. There was one man sitting alone, but before long another man joined him, apologizing for being late. Theresa left after only picking at her sandwich. She felt too rejected to eat.

         She began her long trek home. She was no longer holding her head up proudly. She was no longer attempting to make eye contact. After a very long walk, she ended up back in her apartment, feeling lonelier than ever.

         After taking off her shoes and changing, she decided to try calling a co-worker. The girl had seemed nice enough, if not actually friendly. She answered after the third ring, but informed Theresa that this was her weekend and she didn’t want anything associated with work on her weekends.

         Theresa decided to make a last ditch effort. She had noticed that there was a lady of about fifty living next door. She had never seen anyone with the woman, and deduced that maybe she felt as lonely as Theresa herself. She knocked and waited.

         After what seemed like an eternity, the woman answered the door. After looking Theresa up and down, she asked gruffly just what it was that Theresa wanted. Theresa apologized, siting that she had accidently knocked on the wrong door. The woman slammed it in her face.

         She figured at this point that she may as well go to the laundry and wash. She gathered up her dirty clothes, detergent, and a book and headed out to the laundromat on the corner of her block.

         Even there, it seemed that everyone either had someone with them or someone on the phone that they could talk to. Theresa opened her book and pretended to read. A young man came and sat down in the chair next to her. She glanced over at him, but didn’t say anything.

         Suddenly, the young man spoke to her. True, it was only to ask if she had an extra dryer sheet, but still…he spoke. Theresa looked up at him and stared for a moment.

         “I’m sorry. Did you speak to me?” she asked, shocked.

         “Yeah, I was asking if you happen to have an extra dryer sheet. I forgot to bring mine.”

         Theresa was taken aback. He was cute. Not in a movie star way, but cute none the less. And he was speaking to her. Unfortunately, she told him, she had not brought dryer sheets because she used the liquid fabric softener. He shrugged and thanked her, then got up and walked off.

         After a few minutes, he came back and sat down again. She glanced in his direction.

         “My name’s Eric, by the way.” He told her.

         Now she was really shocked! He had introduced himself to her. She cleared her throat.

         “Theresa.” She stammered.

         She and Eric talked for the next half hour while their clothes finished doing its thing. When the laundry was done, they said good-bye. He didn’t ask for her phone number or a date or anything, but they had actually had a pleasant conversation. She was dwelling on this while she walked home. She realized that it had gotten very dark while she was in the laundromat. 

         When she got into her apartment, she kicked the door shut behind her without bothering to set the locks. She was too lost in her thoughts about having actually had a human encounter. 

         She went into her room, folded the laundry and put it away. At one point, she thought she heard the door open, but decided it must have been her imagination.

         A week later, the lady next door, Mrs. Rosenthal, called the landlord to complain about the girl in the apartment next to hers. First, she told the landlord, the girl had come to her door for no reason. Now, there was a horrible smell in the hallway, and it seemed to be coming from that apartment.

         The landlord came to check with Theresa about the smell. He was thinking that maybe she had a pet. That wasn’t allowed, but Lord knew she wouldn’t be the first to break a rule. As he approached her apartment, he thought maybe it was a sewage issue. He knocked and waited for an answer. None came.

         He opened the door, announcing himself as the landlord. It wasn’t even locked. He thought that leaving her door unlocked was not the best idea in the world. He walked through her neat little apartment until he got to the bedroom. 

         Upon entering the bedroom, he gasped. There lay Theresa’s bloated, naked body amongst what appeared to be partially folded clean clothes. The police later told him that she had been dead for over a week and they were surprised none of her friends had reported her missing or found her sooner.