Morning Glow

The old man had lived on the roof for as long as any of us could remember. The second oldest tenant in our apartment complex said that he had been on the roof when she had first arrived some thirty years ago. Several times the owner of the building had tried to get the old man to leave, but he had never been able to. Even getting the old man locked away for trespassing hadn't stopped him. Eventually he let it drop; the old man was not getting in anyone's way and he wasn't really doing anything wrong. The people in the apartment just kind of accepted him.

We all pitched in when it came to feeding the old man. Scraps of leftovers and cooked meals that got burned beyond good taste all eventually found their way up to the old man. He ate all of it. Some of us pooled some money together and bought him a water pitcher that he collected rain water in and he drank from that whenever he was thirsty. If it hadn't rained in a while one of us would go up and fill it with water from our tap. He was like a pet that we all took care of. None of us really understood why he stayed on the roof, though.

Not all of our gifts to the old man were out of generosity or kindness. I got laid at least a dozen times by showing my softer, sympathetic side to any girl I brought to my apartment. Giving food, good food, to a starving old man earns major brownie points, and I always collected. I know a few of my other neighbors realized this as well and used it to there advantage, too.

It was the night I brought Natalie home from a bar that things changed for me, however. I was going through the usual motions of cooking up a dinner for the old man, reciting well rehearsed lines about how sad this old man's plight was and Natalie was soaking it all up. I made the old man a moderate meal, nothing expensive but several steps up from a standard bachelor meal. It had rained earlier that day so I asked Natalie to grab a blanket as well; more brownie points.

The two of us ascended the three flights of stairs that stood between my apartment and the roof. Down the hall I heard one of the doors creak open and knew it was Johnny, another resident who used this trick too. I flashed him a thumbs up behind Natalie's back and his door clicked shut. The stairway creaked under our combined weight, it was an old building and parts sorely needed repair. The hot food on the plate in my hands steamed slightly as we rose higher into the apartment complex. My mouth watered at the bounty I was delivering to the old man. He would eat well tonight.

I pushed open the door to the roof and stepped out into the chilly night air. The moon stood overhead, glowing brightly in the darkness. The old man was where he always was, at the edge of the roof seated with his back to the door that Natalie and I had just come from.

Puddles were spread liberally across the old roof, reflecting moon light back up into the sky. The old man did not pay any attention to the two of us; he just continued to stare out into the distance. He was soaked to the bone, naturally, and his skinny frame showed his ribs to us. I led the way slowly with Natalie following behind me.

"What's he doing, Chris?" she whispered in my ear.

"I don't know," I replied. "No one knows."

"Has anyone ever asked him?"

"Of course," I said. "Everyone asks him at some point. He never answers though."

The two of us were standing right behind him now and he still hadn't reacted, he never did. Natalie placed the blanket over his shoulders and tucked it around him so that he would stay warm in the cold night air. I laid the plate down in front of him. I saw his eyes flicker towards the food and a small, toothless grin crept across his mouth. That was all the thanks we ever got. Of course I wasn't looking for a reward from him; I had my sights set elsewhere.

"C'mon," I whispered to Natalie. "Let's head back inside." Natalie didn't move, though. She was looking out into the distance, in the same direction the old man was. "What?" I asked, quietly.

"I wonder what he sees," she said as she took a seat down next to him. The old man smiled again. He probably hadn't sat by a beautiful young woman in decades. He lifted an arm, bringing the blanket with it and offered it to the girl. She politely declined.

I had no choice but to join them. I didn't pay attention to what I was doing and sat down right in a puddle of water. I muttered several vicious curses before the girl silenced me.

Despite my wet bottom's protests I stayed where I was and joined the old man and the girl in watching the empty sky. It wasn't anything impressive, to be honest. Just blackness peppered with a few stars and the hint of a skyline from the city. I watched quietly, not saying anything; I grew bored quite quickly. The old man and the girl were entranced. The old man sat with a silly smile on his face and the girl with a calm patience. I didn't know what to expect, so I just sat there in my uncomfortable, wet puddle.

Eventually the old man reached down and took some food from the plate. He ignored the fork I had provided and just grabbed bits of food and placed them in his toothless mouth. He made a slight motion with his other hand and the girl took some food too. I was too far from the plate so I just sat still.

Slowly, over the course of what must have been hours, the food disappeared and a few sips of rain water were taken from the pitcher. The girl took a sip herself, but I, with my bottom soaked to the bone, wasn't particularly thirsty.

The moon began to set as day crept closer and the first hints of dawn started to show. The old man lifted his hand, still covered with a little bit of food, and pointed to the first golden rays of sunlight. The girl was captivated by the sunrise, as if she had never seen one before. The sun was too bright to my eyes and I shied away, but the girl and the old man kept watching.

Slowly the sun crept over the horizon and floated ever upwards as the day continued. I thanked my luck that today was Saturday, so I wouldn't be late for work because I was watching a sunrise with two idiots.

"Wow," the girl muttered almost unconsciously.

I didn't say anything. I decided the girl was no longer worth my time. My butt was cold, I was hungry, and I hadn't been laid. I got up and walked back to my apartment in an angry huff. The girl stayed with the old man. When I left my apartment again later that day the plate and blanket were sitting in front of my door, like they always were. I knew if I asked any of my neighbors all of them would say they hadn't seen a thing.

A few days later the old man was gone. We never saw him again, and we never figured out what happened to him. The girl remained though. Her friends, the one who knew she had gone home with me, harassed me constantly. I told them where she was and they all tried to get her to come home, but she never left the roof.

She just sits on the roof and watches the sunrise everyday.