A light tan Danish phone was ringing on the coffee table. The cat on the futon registered the sound by a movement of one ear, but remained otherwise curled as before between two cushions.
The room was comfortable with the residual heat from the large radiator beneath the bay window that had recently switched itself off. Patchwork curtains, a few rugs, some knitwear peeking from a wooden drawer, and a denim with a lot of badges hanging from the back of the door. In a hundred small ways the room was filled with Bae’s presence, except in that she wasn’t there.
The phone rang off, and then started again, prompting the same reaction from the cat. On top of the set of drawers the fax/printer showed a single green eye labelled “NLQ”. It was a multipurpose device that could also make copies. That was a nice feature but it used up a lot of ribbon. The copies were streaked with lines of absence and over-inking. The phone gave a final ring and rang off.
There was a rattling outside the window as a milk float came to a halt. Empties were removed from the front door by an unseen hand that replaced them with two silver tops and two red tops. A spider hanging from the hedge began to repair its web, having already forgiven the abrupt intrusion.
The street settled back down to await the return of Bae.