The Neighbour Upstairs

For two years Nadia lived under a woman she never met. She heard her every morning at six: three steps, a chair, water in the kitchen. She used to think of her as the noise upstairs and nothing more.

One evening in November the noise stopped. Nadia noticed it at nine and again at ten. She told herself that the woman was away. But the light in the hall upstairs was on all night, and the post was still in the box in the morning.

At eight she went up and knocked. Nobody came. She knocked again and heard something fall. Then a voice said, very quietly, "The door is open."

The woman was on the floor by the window. Her name was Frau Beck and she had been there since the evening before. She was cold and angry with herself. "I did not want to call anyone," she said. "It is only my leg."

Nadia called the doctor and made tea while they waited. Frau Beck talked about her garden and about the man who used to live in Nadia's flat. Since that day they have tea every Thursday, and Nadia still hears the three steps at six.