Ring
The first time I saw John was on September 22nd at his girlfriend’s birthday party. Two weeks after I quit school. I had that blue dress on, The one I exchanged with that widower for a few photos of me in it. John had a face like from another century. The second time I saw John, he had done something to his hair and offered me a job as a security guard in the office of an accountant firm. So, I have a job now! I watch CCTV all night, staring at empty rooms where nothing seems to move, guarding cheap furniture, high quality printers and the accountant’s secrets. It is quite nice, actually. A few weeks later, I decided to get a surveillance camera myself. So on my break at 3 a.m., I went on my smartphone, to start some research on camera systems and I found one built by a manufacturer called: Ring. This name really spoke to me, because of the number of things this world could mean, you know?! A saleswoman in stone-washed jeans sold me the Ring-camera. She told me to find some tutorials online before installing it. I found one by a user named the Engineer, who had greenish barbed wire tattooed around his upper arm. He said: „The update may take a few minutes. but as the app reminds us: „Rome wasn't built in a day“ either. So you might have to wait a little while. The camera is particularly useful when my wife is home alone or when we are on vacation.“ I installed the camera soon after. Now I can not only watch the office rooms, where nothing seems to move, but also my empty apartment. where no-one is at home. It is 1.30 a.m. at the moment and I am at the office thinking about the Engineer’s wife: How she sits on a folding chair with a box of crackers in her hand, waiting for the coffee to boil, just waiting in general, how she plays with her imagination, how she forgets to continue this game, to then wait again, to see if something happens, if something comes up, how instead of answering the door, she will sharpen her knifes, counting down from three to one: three two one.
Then she starts rummaging through the trash for a crumpled piece of paper a German lover gave to her. This is my translation: „It would have been better to have slept and dreamed, then to watch the night pass and the slow moon sink.”