THE STAIRCASE

He opened the door for access to the bottom of the staircase, he stopped at the first step, a look of feverish complication struck his face with the urgency of a sledgehammer blow, he looked upwards eyes wide yet vacant jaw dropped but slightly, tongue froze in a pointing towards the roof of the mouth position, he held this pose for at least five seconds but no more than ten, his head shifted direction now staring leftwards, in front of his eyes was the wall that followed the staircase, it it was much the same as any other wall, a few chips in the paint work here and there, a slightly darker strip leading up the staircase at the height where peoples hands would follow it in support of their balance, if fact it was almost the mirror image of the wall to the right of the staircase which he now suddenly jerked his head angrily to face, but though his eyes were open and looking in the direction of the wall he did not see it, his mind for the moment was not paying any attention to what his pupils were taking in as though it were of no importance, ÔGerry...Geraldine...Janine..Jude...Jan..Julie,Õ he felt as though something had suddenly been taken from him, he hadn't paid attention to the fact that it had gone missing until that exact moment, and now all that plagued his whimsical pesky soul was how to retrieve this information, ÔMaybe its not G nor J at all...L!..Lu..Lu..Louraine! it must be Loraine!Õ his eyes looked upward and his face relieved itself of all grimace, like the feeling of relief when you see a car heading towards a young child collecting its rubber ball from the road, as the child bends to pick it up you almost see the car hit the little brute and send it airborne towards a pavement waiting to scrape the skin from its face upon impact, and then at the last second or maybe a few seconds before the last second, but close enough to bring you to the point of almost shrieking, the car stops with a sudden pull-up, he began the assent of the stairs, within his now unhampered mind, he began to act out the scenario, he pictured himself open the office door and walk into the room, he knew her desk would be the one second on the right, the photocopier would be to the left and ahead of her desk and there was equal chance she would be there, so he would check that direction first, then the desk, he would see her suddenly look up and break into smile, he would smile in response and say, he stopped one step from the top, ÔIts Not Loraine!Õ