Tanya drew a deep breath and tried to concentrate, pushing Kevin Matwin from her thoughts. She sketched, forming the figures she saw in her mind on the drawing board. The child's eyes… she intended them to be full of surprise, wonder…but they came across as dull. Kevin Matwin intruded on her thoughts, distracting her from her work.
How can I meet him? she thought. I could make a lot of noise, letting him know he has a new neighbor. He's not used to having anyone nearby. Maybe he'll come to see who's living next door, after so many years… Her thoughts wandered, dreaming. Her second sketch failed to satisfy.
"He probably wouldn't even look at me twice, with all those beautiful women around him," she said to her drawing board, and ripped off another failed sketch.
In the following days, activity increased on her neighbor's property. Voices-talking, shouting, calling to one another-were the first change. The pool was cleaned and filled by milling workers, the windows washed to a sparkle, the grounds cleaned and planted with new flower beds. Tanya watched from her second floor aerie as the house slowly came awake. Finally, on Monday, she saw a black Alfa Romeo leaving the premises and returning with a passenger.