Zoom at Full Moon With the Girl Next Door

Alex never was quite sure when the infatuation began. He was chatting with someone named The Herb Faery on the local neighborhood Facebook page and noticed how her kind, wise, and witty comments sometimes diffused the frequent squabbling over barking dogs, limited parking places, and such petty disputes. Then he found himself eyeballing her profile and sending a friend request. There was no photo of her but a Victorian illustration of a lovely dark-haired faery in a flower garden.

Alex had been in a major car accident in 2019 in which he suffered a severe head injury and damage to his spinal cord. His ability to walk was now limited, and he had trouble controlling his impulses and often experienced memory loss. In the solitude of his apartment, he often screamed at God, and once even yelled profanities about his hospital bills loudly and vehemently enough that his cat ran for cover under the bed. He had blacked out entire days at the time of the accident and still suffered short term memory loss so much that he kept a spiral notebook to remind himself to complete daily tasks. In fact, he found himself relating to the main characters in old black-and-white werewolf movies and used a red wolf as his Facebook profile picture. He also discovered his interest in The Herb Faery pleasantly distracted him from his darker thoughts of loneliness and depression.

After about a week, The Herbal Faery accepted the friendship request, and Alex learned that her name was Luna. He began searching her Facebook photos and saw that she truly resembled the drawing of the raven-haired flower faery. She was outwardly beautiful as well as inwardly! Moreover, the photos of her herb garden somehow seemed familiar (???)...the iron gate, the St. Francis statue. Suddenly he realized that her backyard was adjacent to the one behind his apartment! They began to message one another frequently, and Alex eagerly anticipated her often humorous replies but never revealed that he was her next-door neighbor. He was careful not to post any recent photos of himself or his yard.

Alex looked down at his wheelchair and his contracted leg muscles. He wanted to continue to get to know her for a while before he shared the extent of his injuries. He did explain to Luna that he suffered joint pain as a result of a bad accident but never mentioned the wheelchair, the memory loss, nor his problems with anger. Besides, this was the spring of 2020, when everyone was in lockdown. Feeling a little like Jimmy Stewart in “Rear Window,” Alex took to observing Luna in her backyard. Like some Cold war spy, he wrote notes about her daily activities in his notebook.

He would sit behind his bedroom curtain and peer out as she hung her wet clothing on the clothesline. She moved her small frame gracefully about, leaning over to grab each article of clothing and pinning it to the line. Her jeans, interspersed with her cotton bohemian blouses and skirts, blew in the breeze and created a patchwork of faded blues, pale yellows, deep greens, and bright oranges. She then hovered about her herbs and flowers, a multitude of purple and wine-colored blossoms, the color of which reminded Alex of a bottle of Merlot. Then, on the long, lazy, sunny afternoons, she poured over books in her lounge chair. Alex strained to read the titles of her books but was unable to see well enough to make out the words...only that they appeared to be text books or journals of some sort. After twilight on Wednesday nights, he would hear Luna dragging her huge box of recyclables around to the curb, along with a tiny plastic trash bag. Then, sometimes when the moon was full, he would see her howl, laugh, and maybe even dance a little in the moonlight when she thought no one was looking. Alex would softly howl back to her from the anonymity of his bedroom.

Alex had seen lots of old movies in which men admired women from afar for a time ...even Lon Chaney Jr. in one of the old werewolf movies. Yet, he did not want to become some creepy stalker. He messaged Luna more often, even sharing his favorite classic rock soundtrack from “An American Werewolf in London” during one especially large full moon when she admitted to him that she liked to howl in the moonlight. She explained that she was studying old herbal remedies and wanted to travel widely to learn more from various cultures.

Finally, it was Luna who suggested they call one another on the telephone, and they talked for two hours straight! They had a few other long conversations. Then Luna asked Alex if he had access to Zoom, and Alex reluctantly admitted that he used Zoom for work meetings. He realized that, if other people could joke about not wearing pants on Zoom, he might be able to conceal the extent of his injuries just a bit longer or at least downplay them.

So, an official date on Zoom was set for 7pm on Saturday. Luna would stir-fry some veggies along with fresh garlic from her garden for herself, and Alex would treat himself to a steak. Yet, Alex went through the motions of asking Luna for her address and sent her his very special bottle of Merlot for the occasion.

Alex glanced at himself in the bathroom mirror and grimaced. His ginger beard was unkempt and his long hair seemed shaggy. He decided to shave off his facial hair and trim his hair, gathering it back into a neat ponytail. He then pulled out his favorite linen shirt and wore his silver wolf pendant. He laughed to himself that aftershave would have no effect on a Zoom date. He might as well be wearing boxer shorts and send her a scratch and sniff cologne card!

He practiced aiming his desk top computer camera at various positions in his kitchen, noticing previously undetected cobwebs and removing them. He was sure to angle the screen so that his wheelchair would be undetected, and he carefully prepared his meal before the old analog clock on his kitchen wall ticked seven. He anxiously clicked on the link and virtually entered Luna’s kitchen. She was sitting in candlelight, wearing red the hue of the wine bottle next to her, and smiling at him radiantly. “Oh Alex, you’re a red-head! My uncle had a thick, reddish beard. I loved playing with his whiskers as a child,” she gushed.

“You look very lovely, dear lady! Totally bewitching,” Alex replied, regretting his previous encounter with his razor. He worried that he had come on too strong and began again, "Do you like the Merlot?”

“Oh, it’s wonderful! Thanks!” Luna replied.

“I saw some photos of your garden on Facebook. You have lots of purple and reddish blossoms on vines. The red ones remind me of Merlot. What kind of plant is that?” Alex inquired.

“Aconitum napellus. It is used in Chinese medicine to relieve pain and inflammation but also can be very poisonous. You have to know the right dosage. Remember, I’m studying herbal medicine,” Luna responded.

“I guess that would either cure my arthritis or kill me!" Alex laughed.

“You’d be surprised how effective it can be if mixed by a knowledgeable herbalist,” Luna replied.

“And I suppose you would be the person with such skills?” Alex asked with a grin.

“Well, I don’t mean to brag, but I have a tincture that friends swear by,” Luna replied.

“I don’t doubt it by the hours you spend studying in your lounge chair!” Alex said absentmindedly.

Luna’s face darkened, “How do you know I study in my lounge chair?? Have you been spying on me???”

Alex began to panic, realizing she had caught him. He stammered, “Didn’t you mention..well..I..ah..I won’t lie to you..or hide the truth anymore.” He swallowed hard and repositioned the angle of his desktop computer to reveal his wheelchair. “The truth is I realized you were my next-door neighbor from your photos on Facebook. I didn’t mean to spy on you like some stalker. I just wanted us to get to know each other a bit before I told you how severe my injuries were. I haven’t yet been able to walk. I blacked out days at the time of the car accident and still have short-term memory loss so bad that I need to write things in a notebook so I don’t forget to brush my teeth! My temper gets the best of me. My yelling even scared the cat the other day! Truth is I don’t know yet how much more I will recover. Truth is I feel like a werewolf in the old black and white horror flicks, liable to hurt the only one I care about. You want to travel the world learning about herbal remedies, and I have to schedule my physical therapy with the county wheelchair van. You have been an incredibly bright spot in my day..the long telephone conversations we had. I didn’t get off watching you hang your laundry as much as I loved seeing you do that crazy dance on the lawn in the moonlight when you thought no one was looking. I wanted to get to know you without you really getting to know me. Yet, I know deep inside I am more than my injuries. But I guess I just seem like some creep now, and I can’t blame you if you're scared of me."

Luna was quiet a moment and then began slowly, “Alex, you have to give me some time. I am rather upset that you were watching me for so long without my knowledge. Yet, I too have really enjoyed our conversations. I really like you! I am truly sorry about your injuries, but you must realize that I wouldn’t think less of you as a man. Life is never as black and white as we think. You might recover. You may learn ways to manage your anger. Your memory might improve, or you may find coping mechanisms. It might be hard and expensive, but you may find ways to travel. That is all in the future. At the moment I was enjoying having a first dinner date with a handsome redheaded companion over Zoom on a moonlit night in the middle of a pandemic. One step at a time. Enjoy the moment. Enjoy the journey!” She held her glass of Merlot up to toast the thought.

Alex returned the gesture with his glass of iced tea and managed a wolf howl. Luna howled back and smiled. The rest of the Zoom date was more subdued, and, afterwards, Alex had trouble sleeping that night. He was glad Luna didn’t seem to murder his hopes immediately but worried that she would ponder the thought of him watching her backyard activities and deem him unsafe. Things might become uncomfortable. Would she consider moving? A restraining order??

The next morning Alex found a package wrapped in red velvet outside his front door. He opened it to find an unmarked bottle and a note that read, “Alex, Here is the tincture I made from aconitum napellus (wolfsbane). I am an experienced herbalist who knows how to treat werewolves. I don’t get rid of them. I heal them. Love, Luna.” Alex smiled. He was definitely letting his beard grow out again.