Window Conversations

Last night, I took the garbage out.

Wednesdays and Saturdays are garbage days for us. By us, I don’t mean my city; I mean my family.

But yesterday was Thursday. I might’ve been enjoying the holiday break so much that I forgot to take out the garbage on Wednesday. Nevertheless, I dealt with my indolence and took the garbage out just before midnight on a Thursday night.

I took my time as I sorted the garbage into the correct bins — you know, organics go in the green bin, carton boxes go in a large blue bin, while glasses, containers, and papers go in different smaller and appropriately labelled blue bins. Oh, and there’s a red bin that I still don’t know what it’s for, so I don’t put anything in it.

Whatever I was doing, I must’ve been loud because it caught the attention of my neighbour — someone I’ve never spoken to. She peered through a window, probably to see what was causing all the raucous, and said, ‘Hey!’

I looked around me, and after a couple more ‘Hey!’s, I caught sight of her silhouette.

“Oh, hey.” I stuttered, wondering if this was about to be one of those things you read or see on the internet where a Caucasian person cusses out a Black person for, you know, doing normal stuff.

I know, I know. In a perfect world, that shouldn’t be my first thought. I’m sorry, the last 365 days (or decade) did a number on me, but I do my best to deal with such bias.

Seeing that I finally replied, the woman in the window waved and said, “Happy New Year!”

We both laughed and wished each other a fantastic 2021.

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