MY REWARD.

                                                   

           I'VE NOTICED THAT AS WE GET OLDER WE BECOME MORE PHILOSOPHICAL ABOUT LIFE, EVEN AT THE RISK OF USING CLICHES (SOME OF THEM ARE GOOD) OR MAYBE AT TIMES we bend to SUPERSTITIONS. (NONE ARE GOOD.)

        WHEN I WALKED INTO THE KITCHEN THAT SUNDAY MORNING I SAW THAT MY

 SIDE DOOR WAS AJAR. I LIVED ON THE TOP FLOOR OF THE HOUSE, LISA AND HAL

 MARTIN, THE OWNERS LIVED ON THE FIRST FLOOR WITH THEIR NEWLY DIVORCED

 DAUGHTER, ANNA AND HER DAUGHTER, CLAUDIA, HOME ON HER COLLEGE BREAK.

 THE BASEMENT APARTMENT HAD RECENTLY BECOME OCCUPIED BY 25 YEAR OLD

 MATT, THE SON OF A FRIEND WHO WAS TEMPORARILY FLOODED OUT OF HIS HOME

 BY THE HURRICANE.

 I WENT TO SHUT THE DOOR WHEN I HEARD LOW VOICES COMING FROM

 DOWNSTAIRS. IN A FLASH I RECOGNIZED THE SOUNDS OF INTIMACY, A MALE VOICE

 AND A SLIGHT FEMALE GIGGLE. WHO WERE THEY? MR.MARTIN WAS OUT OF TOWN,

 SO THE ONLY MALE IN THE HOUSE WAS MATT BUT THERE WERE THREE

 WOMEN,LISA MARTIN WHO WAS IN HER MID-SIXTIES AND STILL QUITE

 ATTRACTIVE, HER DAUGHTER ANNA, (A REDHEAD SINCE BECOMING SINGLE) AND

 HER DAUGHTER CLAUDIA.

  I LISTENED AT THE DOOR BUT COULDN'T MAKE OUT WHAT WAS BEING SAID. I

  WAS HARD OF HEARING AND DID USE HEARING AIDS BUT NOT USUALLY THIS

 EARLY IN THE MORNING. ALTHOUGH I KNEW WITHOUT A DOUBT THAT IF I PUT

 THEM IN, I WOULD HEAR THE VOICES MORE CLEARLY AND RECOGNIZE THEM.

  SO, SHOULD I? THIS SEEMED TO BE AN ETHICAL QUESTION TAILOR MADE FOR THE

 GREEK PHILOSOPHERS AND TALMUDIC SCHOLARS. I DIDN'T HAPPEN TO KNOW ANY

 RIGHT NOW BUT I WAS CLEARLY UNCOMFORTABLE WITH THE ISSUE WHICH

 SEEMED TO BE...WELL, SPYING. I PULLED MYSELF AWAY FROM THE DOOR.

    SUNDAY WAS THE DAY FOR MY FAVORITE BREAKFAST, FRENCH TOAST

 SMOTHERED WITH MAPLE SYRUP. THE REST OF THE WEEK I TRIED TO CURB MY

 SUGAR INTAKE. I SLICE challah  AND MADE A NOTE TO MYSELF TO BUY ANOTHER

 LOAF. I MIXED THE EGGS WITH SOME MILK AND A DASH OF CINNAMON, AND WENT

 INTO THE BEDROOM.

WHAT IF I PUT ONLY ONE HEARING AID IN? WAS THAT HALF AS WRONG? WHAT

WOULD OUR CIA THINK ABOUT IT, OR WORSE, JUDGE JUDY? (THEY DON'T  BUT SHE

SCARES ME.)
AS FAR AS THE MALE'S VOICE THERE WAS NO CHALLENGE, THE FEMALE VOICE WAS

THE MYSTERY AND IT COULD HAVE BEEN ANY ONE OF THEM. BUT OH NO, NOT MRS.

MARTIN, AT HER AGE AND WITH A HUSBAND! THERE WAS HER DAUGHTER WHO,

NEWLY DIVORCED WAS RIPE AND READY. BUT RELATIONSHIPS THAT BEGIN ON

THE REBOUND OFTEN END UP IN TROUBLE. AS FAR AS CLAUDIA I BARELY KNEW

HER BUT AGE-WISE SHE AND MATT SEEMED TO FIT. (MY GENERATION MAKE A BIG

THING ABOUT THE AGES OF THE COUPLE.)

I SOAKED THE BREAD SLICES IN THE EGG MIXTURE, HEATED THE OIL IN THE PAN

AND PUT THE BREAD IN. BUT I WAS COMPELLED TO GO BACK TO THE DOOR. WERE

 THEY STILL THERE...STILL WOOING AND COOING? HE SAID SOMETHING THAT MADE

 HER LAUGH AND THEN THERE WAS COMPLETE SILENCE A NICE  SILENCE FOR A

 LONG MINUTE OR TWO. HMMM, WHAT'S GOING ON DOWN THERE?

THAT'S WHEN I SMELLED SOMETHING BURNING, I RAN BACK TO THE STOVE AND

 TURNED THE SLICES OVER IN THE PAN. THEY WERE BOTH BLACKENED AND BURNT,

 BEYOND SCRAPING. SIMPLY NOT EDIBLE. I WAS FURIOUS WITH MYSELF AT MY

 NOSINESS, CURIOSITY KILLED THE CAT AND IT RUINED MY BREAKFAST ALSO.

THE BREAKFAST THAT I LOOKED FORWARD TO EVERY WEEK, AND CONSIDERED IT

 MY REWARD FOR...I DON'T KNOW...GOOD BEHAVIOR?

IF THAT'S THE CASE IS THIS MY PUNISHMENT FOR BAD BEHAVIOR?

                                                   THE END