The next morning, George was awakened by sunlight streaming in through the bedroom window. Bleary-eyed, he got up to investigate and discovered that there were no curtains – something he hadn’t noticed the night before.

After a short visit with the toilet, he put on his boxers and wandered into the kitchen. He turned the coffeemaker on and stood idly by, waiting for his morning dose of caffeine to heat up. As he rubbed his eyes and yawned for the tenth time, he heard the faint sound of a vacuum cleaner.

Curious, George walked into his foyer and, as he did, the sound grew louder until it sounded like it was directly outside the door of what he now considered to be his apartment. Opening the door, he discovered a young Hispanic woman with deep brown eyes and a shy smile. The nametag on her housekeeping uniform said Lupe.

She looked at him, standing there in just his boxers and raised her eyebrows. She turned off her vacuum cleaner and, very deliberately, walked past him into his apartment. George shut the front door and followed her as she disappeared down the hallway towards the bedroom. When he entered the bedroom, she already had her uniform shirt unbuttoned and was taking off her shoes.

As she stood up to take off her pants, she looked over at George, who was standing in the doorway to his bedroom looking at the strange woman getting naked by next to his bed. She smiled a much less demure smile and beckoned George. When he cautiously stepped closer, she reached out, grabbed his hand and pulled him next to the bed. From there, he took the bold step of sitting next to her on the mattress.

She finished taking her pants off and climbed onto the bed behind him. She started kissing his shoulders and the back of his neck while her hands reached around him to caress his shoulders. Her kisses stopped as her hands moved down his body and into his boxers. For George, it was at this point that the situation left the realm of possibility and entered the realm of reality – a reality that only lasted twenty minutes before she was dressed and back out the door, vacuuming up the hall as if nothing had happened – but reality none the less.

Much later – after the front door closed and the sounds of the vacuum cleaner moved up the hall and out of George’s earshot, he went back into the kitchen and poured himself a cup of coffee. He opened the door to the balcony and stood outside – naked and holding his cup of precious coffee – until he felt awake and at peace with the world. Then he took a shower.