Timeless Curiosity

Jack laughed at what the man had actually said and held out the bottlecap for him to take. “You really don’t wanna know.”

“Right.  Well, thanks for this,” Walter said, lifting the bottle cap up and examining it,” I’ve been looking for another in this color for a little while now.”

Elsa’s eyebrows rose at his sudden idea and she nodded slowly. “I have some free time…but if you’re gonna take me to her, I promise you she won’t want to talk.”  Anna could be quite stubborn, and sometimes that was good, but now it most certainly was not.

“No, no, no, if she’s mad at you then going to talk to her would be the wrong thing to do,” he said with a smile,”  Come on.”

He turned and started walking toward his own little apartment,” What you need.... is a peace offering.   A little gift.  Something to show you’re sorry, when words don’t convey it properly.”

“Riiiight.” Vivian’s voice had taken a tone of sarcasm. “Because leaving her gifts without her knowing who you are is not creepy at all. Reminds me of our neighbour’s cat which kept dropping dead birds on our doormat.” She shrugged. “Fine then. Go and introduce yourself instead. Just walk to her, say hello and tell her your name. Hold conversation and ask her out. Done.”

“Well, when you put it that way it sounds creepy.  It’s not like I’m never going to tell her they’re from me.... I just haven’t yet,”  he didn’t understand why she so adamantly seemed to want him to talk to the woman he’d been watching,  Sure, I’ll go introduce myself..... tomorrow.”

“I’m nearly a hundred percent sure I heard you wrong there.” Jack told the other, honestly curious as to what they’d been trying to tell him. 

“Are you going to keep that bottlecap?” Walter repeated,” What did you think I said?”

“This happens all the time,” Adam said, taking the wrench out of the man’s hands softly so he won’t harm him by a slight touch.

“That may be so, but it still seems like something you should see the doc about.”

“Her name is Anna. We were…estranged for some time, and we’d just started to bridge the gap and then this all happened.”

“Anna,” he echoed.   He knew Anna, and he liked her.   He liked Elsa too, although he couldn’t pinpoint why both seemed to strike such a chord with him.  He wanted to help though, if their relationship was rocky, especially since Elsa seemed torn up about it,”  Well, I suppose we’ll have to fix that won’t we?  Do you have some free time?  I have an idea.”

“Why not?” Vivian raised her eyebrows at him. It was obvious that he was one of the shy kind, but still. Wasn’t love or whatever meant to make you brave? “It would get her to notice you and out of experience I can tell you it works a lot better than just staring at them from a far. Is that how you got your dates so far?”

“Well no,” he said, feeling very awkward and like he was under a microscope.  He never liked being the one who people were paying attention to,”  But she doesn’t even know me.  We’ve never officially met and just walking up and asking for a date would probably be super creepy.  I’ll talk to her at some point.  I just, haven’t had the right moment.  I leave her little gifts though, so it’s not like I’m just come weirdo in the bushes, I’m actually making an effort.”

“Well it was an argument with my sister, and I fear she won’t forgive me for some time.”

“I see.  Who is your sister?”

Adam sniffed deeply as a nostrily inhalation while he approached the maintenance man closely. His body towered over the stringy man and lifted his right hand. “My hand is broken and I just wanted to use that wrench to get my fingers straightened,” he explained. It was pretty bizarre. All of his fingers even his left hand were bent sideways. “Your tools must be reliable but I could somehow manage without breaking them just..please let me borrow one for one tiny second?”

“Isn’t that something you should go to the doctor for?” Walter asked, eyes wide, but still slowly handing him the wrench.  He wasn’t going to want to see how the man was going to use to straighten his fingers and was readying himself to exit as quickly as possible.