He pushed the off button on the phone and looked around the room again. Fifteen minutes later, there was a knock at the door. He opened the door and an attractive honey brown young woman came rushing in. She placed her arms around him and asked, “Are you okay? What’s wrong? You had me so worried. What’s going on?” She held his face in her hands and looked into his eyes.

“I’m okay.” He removed her hands from his face and walked towards the television. “There is something I want you to do.”

“Sure. What?” She placed her pocketbook on the loveseat and stood behind him.

“Here are the keys to my apartment.” Her closeness startled him as he turned around to hand her the keys. “Sell what you can and keep the money. The rest you can give to Goodwill or take to your church or just trash it.”

“What the hell?” She looked at the keys in his hand then at him. “What do you mean sell your stuff?”

“I know you understand English. I know you heard what I said.” He grabbed her hand and placed the keys in her palm. Walking towards the first bedroom he said, “There is an envelope in the top draw of the computer desk with some money in it. It’s yours whenever you’re ready for it. Please don’t sell the desk and forget it’s in there. I know you tend to forget things sometimes.”

“Wait, wait, wait,” she said following him. “Wait a damn minute. What the hell are you doing? Why are you doing this?” She grabbed his shoulder and turned him around. “What’s going on with you? Talk to me. Please.”

He turned back around and walked towards the second bedroom. “I’m sure you can sell my clothes. It’s not like I’m very tall,” he said with a smile.

“Stop ignoring my questions.” She stood in the hallway with her hands on her hips, causing him to laugh. “This isn’t funny. I wanna know why you’re doing this. What do you plan on doing?” She paused for a moment and looked him over. A nervous expression came over her. “Please don’t tell me you’re thinking about killing yourself.” He looked at her for a moment, shook his head and walked to the closet. “You know I hate when you do that. Don’t just stare at me and not say anything. Talk to me dammit. Stop shutting me out.”

“If there is anything you want, I have some boxes in the living room closet you can use to put them in.” She walked up behind him and slapped the back of his head. He did not flinch or acknowledge it. “I have a lot of towels and wash clothes that I’ve never even used. I wish you would take them. My mom and aunt gave them to me. I don’t know why I never used them. I guess I thought they were too nice to dirty.” He smiled a little as he picked up one of the wash clothes.

“Please talk to me.” Her voice was a calm but nervous whisper. “You are really scaring me. Please tell me what’s wrong.” She sat on the edge of the bed. Her sorrowful eyes stared at the carpeted floor.

He walked over and knelt in front of her. “I picked you to do this because I know you need the money, and I no longer need any of this. So please do this for me. I know it won’t make you rich, but I’m sure you could convince some poor fool to pay whatever you want. All you have to do is bat those pretty brown eyes.” He cupped her face with his hand and brushed her hair from her eyes with his fingers. They stared into each other’s eyes until she pulled her face away and pushed his hands away from her. He stood up, shook his head as he looked at the floor then walked out the room. “Why do you try?” he mumbled as he walked away.

She looked around the room as she sat on the bed. A teddy bear dressed in a leather biker outfit that she gave him four years ago sat on a nightstand in the corner. It was the first present she ever gave him. They would joke about his friends teasing him because “his” girl gave him a teddy bear. It had been over a year since they separated, but he still had a picture of them hanging over his bed. Her eyes watered as she looked at the poster size photo. She suddenly bolted from the bedroom, ran up behind him and started hitting his back with her fist.

“Why? Why? Why?” Tears ran down her cheeks as she continued pounding his back. He did not turn around or try to stop her. Within two minutes, she stopped hitting him and buried her face on his back. “Why are you doing this? Why won’t you tell me what’s wrong?”

TO BE CONTINUED - DECEMBER 8, 2020