Staring Outside the Window

Last spring, Sheena moved into a new office with a window facing the neighbouring low-rise building across the parking lot. Not much to see really, few cars. Occasional delivery truck. The guys working in the building across the lot use their backdoor right outside my window to come out for smoke breaks, shoot the shit, have a coffee out in the sun.

Then Sheena started noticing that a couple of these guys in fact were not smoking. Not drinking coffee. And would come out even when raining. And they bring binoculars with them.

After the third, fourth, fifth time distinctly noticing the binocular-watching I finally mentioned this to El Chaperone, asking his opinion as to why they might be doing this.

"Do you think maybe they're chemtrail spotting?. "I dunno", he said. "What time are they out with their binoculars"

"Usually first thing, sometimes end of day too".

"Oh," he replied. "Probably not chemtrail spotting then. They usually only start spraying after 10am."

I believed him. He knows some pilots and they've told him where the chemtrail button is on an Airbus.

And so the summer moved on. Some days binoculars, some days not. Started inventing names for some of them. Bald skinny guy ("Putin") was a favourite. This last week seemed to be particularly active. Few days ago a whole gang of them out back, passing the binoculars from person to person. Seemingly pointed right at my window. That was it.

I charged into the office next door and told the guy in there that enough was enough. There were guys out there with binoculars pointed at my window. "Did you flash them" he asked. "No." I replied. Turns out the previous female occupant of that space had also been weirded out by the exact same behaviour last year.

Then he looked up at me and he said "Birds". Huh? I asked. "Birds" he said. Those guys are out there with binocular watching birds. Birds as in Sienna Miller/Kate Moss? Birds as in what is being flipped at them by women in windows? No, he said. Birds as in the wildlife in the area. They're just watching the birds.

Oh. Well that actually made sense. And then I walked back down the hallway. Thinking that crap. Here it is the first week of October already. It's fall, and a chill is in the air. And that it is migration season and the birds are all leaving. And that very soon my old neighbours would have nothing to look at. And I felt sad.