It was the beginning of fall, Raja’s favourite time of year. She moved to look out of the window. She loved the colours; the varying shades of brown had inspired many of her favourite dress designs and outfit ideas. Everything about the season made her happy: the leaves, the dewy morning grass, the cooling air, all of it. Things seemed to slow down in the fall, everyone calming down after summer, animals beginning to hibernate. It was peaceful. Raja couldn’t wait to settle into her new home and spend lazy evenings outside, reading a book under the stars next to a little fire.
She had moved into her house a couple of weeks ago, but only now had she finally finished unpacking everything. It was really starting to feel like a home. It was a small bungalow that reminded Raja of a little lakeside wood cabin, rustic and full of character, the perfect place for her to get her creativity back - the smell of fresh wood and bonfires was sure to bring back the inspiration she needed.
Raja had recently broken up with her girlfriend, Raven, and decided that she needed a fresh start. Raven had been everything to her: her muse, her light, her shoulder to cry on. When they broke up, she felt as if all of her inspiration had been drained, too heartbroken to design anything worthy of creating. This move was the best thing for her, a much deserved breath of fresh air.
She was about to step away from the window, planning to make herself dinner, when she noticed movement coming from the garden next to hers. In the weeks she had been in her new home, she had had no neighbours other than those in the house opposite. The entire street seemed empty - most people were moving out or going on holiday for the colder months, chasing the sun in an attempt to lengthen the rapidly disappearing summer.
The movement seemed to be someone raking the leaves from their covered lawn. Raja was unable to see who they were or what they looked like; her placement in the window made it hard for her to see anything past her neighbour’s tree. She stayed there, craning to get a look at her possible new neighbour, but there was nothing. All sign of movement had stopped, and she was just about to leave again before she saw the most amusing thing she had witnessed in months.
A woman, seemingly around the same age as herself, stood at the far end of the garden. She was dressed in an oversized yellow coat, which had a hood that looked like Big Bird from Sesame Street, and knee-high brown striped socks. She had messy black-and-blonde hair that was tied into a scruffy ponytail, and there were bits of leaves and twigs sticking out of it. She looked ridiculous.
The expression on her face was one of complete and utter seriousness as she stared at the pile of leaves at the opposite end of the garden. Raja was confused for all of about 3 seconds, until the woman started running… if the term ‘running’ was used lightly. She was hurtling towards the leaves, limbs flailing like a scarecrow on a windy day, face full of determination. The woman jumped up, launching herself into the leaves with as much grace as a ballet dancer on crack.
Raja could no longer see her - the woman had entirely disappeared under a pile of red and brown leaves, only the occasional yellow feather was visible. Seconds went by without movement and Raja became increasingly more concerned. She held her breath, torn between laughing at the ludicracy of the situation or worrying for the woman’s safety.
Suddenly, a head popped up from beneath the leaves, the woman’s smile was like the bloom of the morning, bright and sunny and full of joy. She was laughing at herself, and Raja could hear it faintly through the small opening in the window. Her laugh was unapologetically loud, sparkling like a droplet of water in the sun, so happy and free. Raja couldn’t help the smile that made its way to her face, amused and enraptured at the sight of the other woman’s happiness.
And so it became almost routine for Raja. She would go into her spare room to hang her washing up every evening, and she would just ‘happen’ to see her neighbour raking up leaves and jumping into them. It wasn’t that she had developed a crush on the other woman, she just found her child-like mannerisms endearing… or so she told herself. It wasn’t like her smile was unmovable when the other woman was around, nor was it like her heartbeat sped up whenever she looked at her, nothing like that. It was just amusing.
It had been around a week since she first noticed her neighbour in the garden, and here she was again, hanging up her washing and absentmindedly looking out of the window, waiting for the childish stranger to appear again. And soon enough, she did, in the same yellow coat as always. She raked up the leaves and walked to the end of the garden, like she usually did, she then ran head first into the pile of leaves. She stayed there, in her makeshift bed of foliage, laughing at herself, mouth open wide and face full of happiness.
This time, however, she stalled as she stood up, stopping dead in her tracks, face full of nothing but mortification. For the first time since Raja had first seen her, she didn’t look back at the garden, instead she looked straight at Raja. Neither of them moved, too embarrassed to do anything but continue to stare at each other.
In a split second, the brunette was gone, scurrying off into her house like a frightened mouse. Raja slid to the floor. She had no explanation as to why she was looking out of the window; she just found herself there day after day without really meaning to. She never really thought about how creepy it actually was - the woman didn’t even know that she lived there yet, and there she was, staring at her jumping into a pile of leaves.
The next day, Raja did the same as she usually would. She walked into her spare room with a faint hope in her heart that she would see the ugly yellow coat making an appearance in the garden adjacent to hers. It didn’t. Instead, there was a knock on her door. She placed the washing in her hand back into the basket and made her way to the front of her house.
When she opened the door, there she was, in all her yellow-coated glory. Up close, she was more intriguing than Raja had expected: her hair was more of a dark brown and her eyes were the same. Actually, no. Her eyes might have been a similar shade to her hair, but they were so much brighter. They were a mystery; an intriguing dance between dark and light. She extended her arms towards Raja, a box in her hand, silently signalling for her to take it.
“Hi, I’m Manila.” Her voice was soft and bashful as she spoke, clearly feeling embarrassed and somewhat uncomfortable. “I’m your neighbour. Sorry I wasn’t here to greet you, I didn’t know anyone had moved in because I was on holiday and so I made you a pumpkin pie, oh I hope you like pumpkin because if not I could always take it back and make you something else. You hate it don’t you? Sorry, I should have asked first, that was rude, I’m sorry, I- ” Raja cut her off with a soft chuckle.
“It just so happens that pumpkin is my favourite. I’m Raja.” Manila’s face lit up with joy and relief at the words of the other, the embarrassment slowly fading away. She handed her the box. “Would you like to come in?”