It's really hard to explain what a squeegee is, so if you don't know what it is, look it up. It's like the long sponge thing you use when you wash your car's windshields, idk. I tried to find an easier word that people would understand, but it didn't work very well.

Chapter 3:

Window Washer

Ignoring the window in front of him, Alfred turned in his seat to change the channel on the radio. He went through several stations, irritated that they all were announcing commercials, before finally stopping on a top 100 radio station. It could be worse.

Leaning back, but not too far, he sighed and stared up at the sky. The lowering sun glinted on the newly washed windows above him, and he felt a momentary swell of pride: he cleaned those windows, nearly twenty stories off the ground.

Feeling a renewed sense of motivation, he went back to cleaning the window facing him. Alfred grabbed the spray bottle and spritzed the entire window with cleaning fluid, using the window squeegee to soak it up, leaving the window dry and clean. He held the tool over one of his buckets, and squeezed the dirty water out of the sponge part. Repeated twice more, all with the same meticulous attitude, he finally sighed after the routine was over. Whoever thought a window needed to be cleaned three times needed to relax.

But, at least another window was finished.

He looked down, surprised to see that he was in the middle of the hotel, maybe the ninth or tenth floor, but he couldn't be sure which. That meant that Alfred only had a few more floors to finish. When he said floor, he meant the three window wide area that he had been facing all day in his one-man chair, not the entire floor of windows.

Anderson, one of Alfred's fellow window washers, had done the first six floors, but with more windows on each floor. Apparently, he and his quieter counterpart, Emil, had used the ground lift platform, making it infinitely easier than being suspended from the roof. Of course, using the lift platform made it easy to clean the windows, and then go back to the ground to move it to the next area.

Too bad they were missing out on the view.

Alfred shook his head, and reminded himself to concentrate on cleaning. If he didn't get a move on, he wouldn't finish by the time the sun went down. To make matters worse, this specific hotel didn't have any bright overhead lights, so it'd be incredibly difficult, if not impossible, to finish his job.

Quickly grabbing the ropes that were suspending his body, he lowered himself slowly until he reached the next window to be cleaned. He locked the ropes in place, tugging and fastening so the belay device was secure.

Starting the routine that was quickly becoming second nature, he sprayed the bottle full of cleaning liquid onto the window and began his window washing. Alfred nodded his head to the song that just came on, and was just about to start the third repetition when he heard something. Stopping, he perked his ears carefully, and thought he heard someone calling for him. Confused, he turned his radio off for a moment and glanced at the surrounding area.

"Holy shit!" Alfred yelped, nearly dropping the spray bottle he was holding. His eyes were wide, startled by the young man leaning out the window on the floor below him. The man chuckled and his eyes were soft, radiating kindness.

"Sorry, did I scare you?" He apologized shyly, though it was obvious he wasn't entirely sorry. In retrospect, it was pretty funny.

"Yeah man," Alfred laughed in return, "I didn't even know these windows could open!"

"Me neither," the man admitted, smiling softly. He looked out the window, towards the city sky line and admired the colors decorating the sky. "But the sunset was so pretty, I just had to try."

Alfred paused for a moment, taking in the details of the man talking to him. It seemed like he was some sort of business man, he was wearing a long sleeve collared shirt, obviously ruffled by a business jacket or suit that covered it.

"What's your name?" He blurted, chuckling with a twinkle in his eye. "It's getting boring calling you 'that guy' in my head."

"Oh, me?" that guy asked rhetorically, even though no one else was there. "My name's Toris. What's yours?"

"Nice to meet you, Toris. I'm Alfred," the window washer replied easily. He turned his attention and quickly finished up the window, eager to move down to the next floor: it would be easier to talk to Toris like that.

Alfred easily maneuvered the belay device, moving the ropes and lowering himself to the next floor. Looking down quickly, he counted the floors between him and the ground. Incredibly glad that he counted six, he realized that this would be the last floor he would have to do. It was amazing when things like this worked out.

"Isn't being a window washer really scary and dangerous?" Toris inquired, watching carefully as his new friend sprayed the window with something. Stretching, Toris heard his back pop and sighed happily. He leaned out the window again, crossing his right arm over the other, settling into a comfortable position while still being able to converse.

"Nah, not really," Alfred responded over his shoulder. He wiped the window off with the squeegee, making sure all the liquid was removed. "There has only been one death in the past four years in the entire United States."

"Wow," Toris breathed, incredibly surprised. He thought there would have been more deaths, but he supposed that there were lots of rules and regulations. Plus, the window washer he was currently watching seemed to know what he was doing.

Fascinated, he watched as the same two steps were completed again: the spray bottle, and then the squeegee.

"Yeah, and it's only scary if you can't handle heights," Alfred added, pausing from cleaning to glance over at Toris. He laughed, noticing the disgusted look on the other man's face. Guess he didn't like heights. "Personally, I find it invigorating."

Toris smiled, and was thoroughly enjoying talking to the random window washer he had come across. "I definitely don't think I could find it… invigorating. I'd probably cry. What about your co workers, what do they think of it as?"

He snorted, and wiped a fake tear away. Finishing up the final touches for the window, he responded, "I'm pretty sure one of my co workers joined just to piss me off."

"Really?" Toris wondered. "How does that even work?"

"Okay, well maybe he didn't join to piss me off," Alfred admitted, shrugging his shoulders. "But! He definitely goes out of my way to piss me off, that jerk."

"What happened?"

Alfred looked side to side, almost as if he was checking to see if people were listening. Toris chuckled, finding that ridiculous, considering they were seven stories off the ground and the other man was suspended in mid air, but he didn't say anything. All he did was lean forward and enjoy the story.

"Okay so like, this guy name is Ivan, right? Well apparently he was a window washer before me, but that definitely doesn't matter."

Toris nodded, egging him on.

"For some reason, either he hates me or he's one of those guys from like, preschool where they pull the pigtail of the girl they like. I'm not sure which one I would want… but either way, he likes to annoy me."

Alfred paused, taking a moment to glare at the man at the window. Even if he had tried to hide it, he definitely heard the giggle. Toris blushed and smiled apologetically, waiting for him to continue the story.

"So, one day, I get a job offer for a really, really easy job and incredible money. Obviously, I take it, but apparently one of the rules is that you get paid by how many windows you clean. Ones that pass their inspection, I mean. Anyway," he scrunched up his nose in disgust, here, before moving on in his story, "I show up, and guess who's there? Ivan! Ivan's there, and I get so mad, because everyone knows I don't work well with him."

"Wait," Toris interrupted, "Why don't you work well with him?"

Alfred rolled his eyes and scoffed. "We're two very, very different people, with different ideals and values. Let's just leave it at that," he explained, the serious expression on his face looking very out of place. Of course, seconds later, he was smiling again. "Do you want a candy bar?"

"Did you really bring candy bars with you?" Toris asked incredulous, but chuckled and gave up when Alfred nodded. "Sure, I'll take a snickers."

"Nice choice," he approved with a smirk, and took a bite of his own kit-kat. "Back to the story. So I said you get paid by the window, right, and I show up, and apparently Ivan has already done nearly a third of them. Like, I need to pay my rent too, dirtbag. I immediately get to work, and get into the chair suspender thing I'm in right now, but he keeps telling me I can't do certain windows."

Alfred paused, frowning and looking unsure if he wanted to continue. Toris smiled gently at him, and he sighed and relented.

"I asked, why can't I do those windows, and you know what he says?" Alfred glared at nothing in particular, before spitting the next part out. "My initials are on it."

"No way!" Toris exclaimed, trying not to giggle, even if it was a little bit funny. Alfred was obviously offended, so it would be rude of him to be laughing.

"Yeah! And I totally lost it. I thought he'd be lying, so I go to the windows, and the initials are right there, liking he's signing some amazing piece of artwork. 'I.B.'" He crossed his arms, and barked out a laugh. Seconds later, he relaxed and smiled again. "It doesn't really matter though, I mean, he's not a really terrible guy, he just likes to push my buttons."

"Well, you're not such a bad guy either, Alfred," Toris pointed out, smiling at him.

Looking back at his new friend, Alfred grinned, a real, full-of-happiness grins that he hardly ever had. "Well, if anything, you're the good guy," he countered, blue eyes sparkling. "No one ever listens to me talk for this long, they usually get annoyed and leave, but you didn't. So thanks. Like, a lot."

"You're welcome, Alfred," Toris returned easily. They sat in comfortable silence, and he moved his hand up to his cheek, and held his head in his hand as he thought silently for a moment. Suddenly, he remembered a question he wanted to ask earlier, but had forgotten to.

"Do you have to do it three times? That kind of seems excessive."

"It definitely is excessive," Alfred replied in a heartbeat. "But it's what the boss of this hotel requested, so we gotta listen to it."

"Huh," Toris mumbled, and closed his eyes. He thought silently for a moment, before commenting, "You know, I saw a machine cleaning the windows a couple weeks ago. What do you think of those?"

They were quiet again, the only sounds being the clinking of different tools being put away. Toris waited patiently for the other to answer. Opening one eye, he noticed Alfred staring off into space, before snapping into reality and turning to face him.

"Some of us think there's an art to what we do," he described, dead serious and scoffed. "Have you seen what we do? We can clean windows a hundred stories off the ground. I've seen those machines, but I firmly believe the man on the glass washing the windows does it the best."

Toris smiled at him, nodding in acceptance. "It's really neat what you do, Alfred. I don't think I could do what you do, so I really admire it."

"Thanks," he beamed, and leaned against one of the ropes holding him up. Toris watched carefully as he looked up at the darkening sky, reflected on the windows he had personally cleaned. Alfred smiled modestly and looked carefully over his city, taking in the sounds and sights that one could only see from a height. Without looking back, he murmured affectionately, "I'm in no rush to look for a new job, Toris. I'm happy right here, watching over this city."