The ReLife Project Collection

Chapter 2-2

The walk from his office to the Schwarzenbach Tavern was about a mile-and-a-half and took less than fifteen minutes. He could have taken public transportation, but he needed the exercise and fresh air. An early evening stroll along the Limmatquai Promenade, which hugged the east and west sides of the Limmat River, was refreshing and made him feel alive. Although he was jealous of the hundreds of people dining together on the outdoor patios, it helped to minimize his problems. If these people could develop relationships, then he should be able to do so.

When he arrived at the Schwarzenbach Tavern the crowd was light compared to most weekday nights. He scanned the crowd hoping to see someone he knew so he wouldn"t have to dine by himself.

He was still searching the crowd when the hostess approached and asked in labored English with a heavy German accent, "Good evening, sir. May I show you to a table?"

Rollie thought about leaving the tavern but the idea of spending another night alone was too depressing. He needed to stay at the tavern to postpone the loneliness which awaited him at his apartment. It didn"t matter that all the faces in the tavern were unfamiliar. Just having other people around was enough to make him feel like an important part of humanity.

"Yes, I"ll take a table for two, please." There was no one scheduled to join him but telling the hostess a small white lie made him feel better and self-confident.

Rollie ordered a traditional Swiss entree and lager beer from the menu. He spotted the local Beobachter newspaper on a nearby empty table and started to thumb through it to pass the time. It was printed in German which he knew enough to figure out the main topic of each article. The Beobachter was one of only three newspapers left in the world which printed paper and electronic versions. Rodolfo liked reading paper newspapers. There was something comforting and controlling about holding it and manipulating the pages any way you wanted.

After a few minutes, he put the paper down and looked up. He felt eyes watching him. He looked across the tavern to confirm his intuition or cast it aside as a minor form of paranoia.

At first, he didn"t see her even though her staring could not have been more obvious. He might have been expecting a man"s gaze but not a woman’s. For whatever reason, it took about a minute before their eyes locked.

Her gaze was so intense that he felt violated. He looked down again at the newspaper to break the contact. He wasn"t reading the newspaper but rather wondering if he knew this woman and if she was really looking at him. He looked behind his table for anyone else who might be the object of this woman"s attention. The only people seated behind him were two elderly women getting drunk on cocktails and chatting about the latest gossip.

His curiosity and confidence returned so he looked across the tavern toward this woman. He found her staring again directly into his eyes. This time she gave him a thin smirk. Otherwise, she did nothing to change her stare even though there were two women at the table trying, in earnest, to get her attention. He could almost read her thoughts. She had no desire to be with these two women and whatever they were talking about held no interest to her.

He wondered what to do. Should he walk over, introduce himself and save her from the two chatterboxes accosting her? Or should he sit tight and let her make the first move? As he pondered this question another observation caught his eye. This woman was dressed entirely in black. She wore a tight, tailored dress with black high heels which he could barely see below the table. The string of beads or stones around her neck was also black as coal. And the purse lying on the table in front of her was shiny black patent leather.

A black outfit was understandable on a dreary winter night, but worn on a summer"s evening was unusual. Warmer temperatures normally brought out colorful clothes worn by men and women. Regardless, Rollie found the all-black outfit very sexy. It was the perfect match to highlight her rich black hair which flowed in curls past her shoulders. The final piece was her dark eyes which appeared to be ebony from across the restaurant.

This woman"s continuous visual fixation was alluring and s****l. It made Rollie feel very self-conscious. So much so, he knew eating dinner with her eyes watching his every move would be impossible.

He got the impression that the other two women at her table would not allow any interruptions. They were so vested in holding the woman in black"s attention that if he tried to interrupt, they would become hostile and tell him to shove off. They reminded him of two wolves who finally cornered their prey and wouldn"t allow anything to interrupt their feeding frenzy. It was a no-win situation for him. If only the woman-in-black would take the lead and do something or give him a hint of what she wanted.

Nothing changed by the time his dinner arrived. He considered what he should do. There was a part of himself who wanted to stay and see what happened to the woman-in-black. And there was the other option of packing up and leaving. It was possible that he was misreading the situation, and going home to eat dinner was a wise decision. It might not be as interesting but at least he could eat without the intense scrutiny of a stranger"s gaze.

"Waiter, I"m not feeling well. Can you put my dinner in something, so I can carry it home?"

The server transferred Rollie"s dinner to an insulated clamshell and then placed it inside a medium-sized thermal bag. Rollie paid the bill, left a tip, and headed to the tavern"s front door. He did all this without looking at the woman-in-black. But he couldn"t help himself before taking the final steps into the night. He gazed one last time to the back of the tavern to where she was sitting.

She gave him a weak wave with her right hand and a modest smile. The other two women missed both signals and kept babbling like magpies.

Rollie ambled along the narrow side streets to his apartment. He couldn"t stop thinking about the woman-in-black. Why was she looking at him? Did they know each other? Would they meet in the future? It would be some time before he knew the answers to these questions. For the moment, he reveled in the thought that he might be more attractive and desirable to the opposite s*x than he believed at the beginning of the day.