Free Indecent Exposure (Rude Awakenings) by Kerry Down Page A

pulled out of her
driveway so she had both front windows wound down. Turning right, she noticed
the white haired bird-man emerging from the lorry carrying a large table-lamp
     
    “Hi. How’s the move going” she called out.
     
    The man looked momentarily flustered as he
walked towards the car. As he got nearer she was unsettled herself by the
piercing look he gave her.
     
    “Oh…Hi. All well so far thanks. Erm…I’m Manny
by the way, Manny McCarthy. I guess we’re going to be neighbours.”
     
    “Yes, I live opposite. I’m Sarah. Sarah Miles.
Nice to meet you Manny.”
     
    “Yes, nice to meet you too. Better keep going I
suppose..” his voice trailed off as he waved the lamp to emphasise the point.
     
    “Hope you get yourself sorted out Manny. If you
need anything just come over and bang on the door. I’m in most days.”
     
    “Will do Sarah. Thanks. See you around..”
     
    With that, Sarah waved and headed off.
     
    Later on, shopping finished; Sarah was putting
stuff away in the kitchen cupboards when she heard her doorbell ring. She could
see a slightly stooped figure through the frosted glass and guessed it was the
new arrival. Sure enough, the door opened to reveal a tired looking Manny.
     
    “Oh…Hi…I was just wondering what day the bins
are collected. We are swamped by rubbish over there.”
     
    Sarah politely asked him in and offered to make
a cup of tea. The suggestion was eagerly accepted. Obviously everything was
still in T-chests over there. They chatted for a while, giving Sarah the chance
to find out a few more things. The young man was Manny’s grandson as she had
thought. His parents worked overseas, out in Singapore. He often stayed with
Manny when he was on holidays from college, where he was studying Computer
Science ‘ …Geek then, not a professional
surfer …Oh well…Mind you, I wonder if he could fix that blasted network
connection…. ’ . There was no mention of Manny’s wife, though whether she
was absent due to desertion, divorce or death was unspecified.
     
    After 20 minutes or so, Manny excused herself
and returned to his move. It was enough time for Sarah to decide that while he
did seem pleasant enough, she wasn’t very interested in getting any friendlier.
He had a particularly irritating habit of cantering off at a tangent when
talking. During their chat, she unenthusiastically endured his knee-jerk
opinions about the government, capital punishment and immigration.
     
    She was happy then, that for the next month,
the McCartheys kept a low profile. An occasional passing wave and exchange of
pleasantries was about as much contact as she had with them. Then one Monday
morning, she was sunbathing in her usual sunny spot round the side of the
house. Her reading was interrupted by the sound of someone coming up the drive.
It was Manny. Sarah sighed, opened the garden gate and called through.
     
    After a bit of dithering, Manny confessed to
looking for a bit of a favour. He was heading out of town for a long weekend
and needed someone to feed his two cats. He seemed so anxious that Sarah felt
obliged to agree. Mind you, she also made sure to take the opportunity to ask
if Rob could sort out her laptop. It was agreed that he would have a look in a
week or so when he was next home from college. Later that day, Manny dropped
off an envelope with keys and an over-fussy list of instructions about cats, food
and alarms.
     
    Friday morning came round and she duly walked
across the road clutching the envelope. It was easy enough to let herself in
and sort out the alarm and she was relieved to see the tins of food on a work
surface ready to go. The cats were locked in the kitchen with a cat-flap out to
the garden. Manny had stressed in his notes that they weren’t to be allowed in
the rest of the house. Mission accomplished, she headed back to her own
routine.
     
    Things went to plan that evening as well, so
she was a little too casual by the Saturday morning. Bending