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Previous Challenge Entry
Topic: Rejection (11/15/04)
TITLE: Brick by Brick
By Susan Klein
11/22/04
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Wispy clouds drifted across the sky that day. A light breeze chased a few fallen leaves across my path as I hurried to my apartment door. A few doors down a new neighbor fumbled with her keys. Meekly she glanced at me as I strode to my door. Our eyes met. I looked away and expertly turned my lock. As I stepped inside a chilled breeze ruffled the papers I carried. “Rain clouds must be moving in,” I thought to myself as I shut the door.

I saw her again the next day in the laundry room. I had just started my jeans in the dryer when she walked in with her overflowing basket. I waited while she stepped out of the doorway. Again our eyes met. I grabbed the doorknob and quickly let myself out. A cloud obscured the sun just as I stepped outside. The shadows felt a little chilly.

A few days passed before I saw her again. We were both leaving that morning and our cars were parked side by side. As I reached for my door handle I looked over at her. This time our eyes didn’t meet. Her head was down. Her shoulders slumped. She never looked up at me. It was a bright sunny day but suddenly I felt icy. I knew what I had done.

It was her father that handed her the first brick. He laughed at her when she sang for him one day. He said she sounded like a rooster. She was only three, but she began building her wall that day. Through the years her father gave her many more bricks firmly setting her foundation in rejection. Though she didn’t mean to, her mother added a few when she was feeling frustrated and didn’t have patience for her small daughter. Her friends and classmates gave her several when she got her first pair of glasses and when she had braces. Sometimes she accepted a brick from kids on the playground even when they weren’t meant for her. Becoming adept at stacking those bricks she began to search for them in everyone. Somehow it comforted her. She knew what to do with rejection. Her wall was getting solid and high. She was safe inside even though it was dark and lonely and cold. And then I added my two bricks.

I had been in such a hurry those times I saw her. I had papers to finish and laundry to fold. I had calls to return and reservations to make. I had my favorite tv show to watch. I had dismissed her. I had ignored her. I had rejected her and I didn’t even know her name.

That day when I came home I saw her walking to her door. I hurried. Just as I got to my door she turned, startled by my quick approach. Our eyes met. I smiled. Our eyes held. “Welcome to the neighborhood,” I said. As the warm sun shone down on her a single tear glistened as it rolled down her cheek and caught on her smile. Faintly I heard the crumble of one brick.