07-12-2020, 04:05 PM
1
The Stalker
It was the Englishman's second time in America. He liked his first visit so much that he volunteered to work there again.Two weeks into his first visit he had told his wife on the 'phone, "It's a bit like being in Yorkshire. All the people here are genuinely friendly and helpful, but they don't half talk funny."
He knew the American service industry relied on tips, but had made a mistake the first time round. He left one large tip for the hotel housekeeping staff half-way through when he had been asked to move rooms because the FBI wanted to seal off one wing whilst they were in town, and left another decent sized tip in his second room when the job ended.
He was told afterwards that all of this money might have gone to only one housekeeper who may not have cleaned his room on any other occasion. He was advised that next time he should leave a small tip every day rather than one big one at the end to ensure all the staff would get an equal share for equal work.
As he now walked through the hotel, he nodded politely at one of the housekeeping staff coming the other way. The woman smiled, then suddenly stopped and said, "Wait a minute. You were in my section a few months ago weren't you?"
"Yes" replied the Englishman.
"Well thank you for my tip" said the woman, referring to the twenty dollar note the Englishman had left after staying nine days in that room.
She then asked what he was doing back again. When he told her she looked quite dejected, sighed, and said, "And all I do is clean rooms"
"Yes" said the Englishman, "but that's an important job. If the rooms weren't clean and tidy," he continued, "people like me wouldn't come here, the hotel would close, and you'd all be out of a job."
"Oh" said the woman, immediately brightening. "I hadn't thought of it like that. Thank you."
The Englishman was working evening shifts at the nearby US Air Force base, so usually had a leisurely late breakfast, checked his emails, wrote a daily report, then went for a swim in the hotel's lagoon shaped pool followed by a plunge into the Jacuzzi before getting ready to go to work.
Since there was hardly ever anyone around in the mornings, he had got into the habit of nipping down the back stairs and then along a corridor to the pool in just his swimming shorts and a bath towel wrapped around him.
A few days after meeting the housekeeper, he was heading for his morning swim when a voice called out, "Morning Sexy!"
To say he was shocked was an understatement. He had once been a fit, athletic young man, but not so now. He was middle-aged, balding, and parts of his body were slowly moving in the general direction of down, and he wasn't used to this sort of attention from anyone other than his wife.
That afternoon he 'phoned her and told her what had happened. After that, if he saw the housekeeper first, he would dodge behind potted palm trees, duck into an alcove, or make a quick dash to the pool if he saw her looking the other way.
Sometimes though he just couldn't avoid her. He was always polite, but without his glasses he couldn't clearly see her features, so was never quite sure if she was just joking, or if he had something to worry about.
And that my friends is how at the age of forty-nine I had my very own stalker.
Over several more work trips though I began to realise she was nothing of the sort. She was lonely, her son having just left home for college, had no husband, and was happy that a hotel guest had been kind to her unlike the way she was sometimes treated by others.
She was always pleased to see me when I visited, and was even happier if I stayed in the section of the hotel where she worked. She asked me about my family, and was over the moon when I told her I would be bringing my wife on my next trip. Both women really wanted to meet the other, all though for very different reasons I'm sure.
A few months later I arrived with my Lovely Cousin, but the housekeeper was nowhere to be seen, even after several days.
I eventually asked the head of housekeeping where she was only to be told she had failed to turn up for work one day, and upon investigation was found dead at her home. It transpired that she had been terribly abused by her ex-husband and had suffered a head injury so bad that she needed a metal plate putting in her skull.
It was thought that she suffered a brain aneurysm as a result of this old injury.
She was only forty when she died.
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