2024-11-25 “What’s The Catch?” for Liza (born 2003)

Liza McDuffy decided, since she had earlier opted to leave the blinds open, she would opt to not walk through her apartment undressed—not that night. She pulled on a bathrobe as a transition from her work clothes that she draped over the dresser to her sleeping clothes that were still in the dryer from Sunday’s laundry cycle.

Liza had no qualms about parading through her little apartment—one large common room and one separate bedroom—in any state of dress or undress. She lived alone, and when the blinds were closed it really didn’t matter what she had on or not on.

Alone had become an accepted aspect of her life. Lived alone. Went to bed alone. She woke up alone. Went to work alone. Worked alone…

Until today, when Devon Collier talked her into sitting down for coffee before they went to separate places for the morning. He’d asked her about her university, her internship, and told her about his plans to go to New Jersey Institute of Technology. He told her about his mother being killed in a fire and him being on the streets homeless for a little while. Time ran out and they had to go do their work.

To her utter shock, he asked for her Snap. And he gave her his.

Later, just at the end of the day, he was passing through one of the CAD areas. He made eye-contact, smiled, and waved. Liza waved back.

As Liza fished her jammies from the dryer, she paused and shook her head. She thought that there must be some catch. He must have some motive, some reason to be playing games with her.

She decided she’d have to be careful and watch out. She couldn’t imagine why he was doing whatever it was he was doing, and she was afraid to find out.