A Warm Bath

I was in the tub

When I heard

The sliding glass door open

I know that sound

I know it from having lived

In this house

All these years

The slow glide

Of metal

And the way it clicks

When it stops

At the other side

Someone who doesn’t know

My house

Has entered

My house

That was the thought in my head

As I looked across the room

At the open bathroom door

My phone was charging

In the bedroom

I’d left it there

So I could be still

And relax

And enjoy myself

In the bath

Relaxation has an element

Of vulnerability to it

And so I was in the tub

With a towel on a rack

Three feet and three thousand miles away

And that would have only served

To cover me up

Not to protect me in any way

I heard footsteps in my kitchen

I heard the light switch

Flicked, quickly

And I saw the residual light

Approach the bathroom tile

Did this person know

I was in here?

None of the lights were on

In the house

Because I had gotten

Into the bath

As the sun was going down

And I had lit a few candles

Before easing myself

Into the just-right water

Was this a burglar?

Could they get what they wanted

Without needing to come

Towards me?

What would they do

If they found me in here?

Maybe run?

Should I shout?

Would it startle them?

What was stopping me

From getting out of the bath

And confronting them?

Why should I be ashamed

Of my own nakedness

In my own house

When defending it

Against an intruder?

That was what I was thinking

When I heard whoever it was

Pull a knife out of the block

Instinctively I seeped

Into the water

Hoping I could disappear

Beneath it

As though it were the color

Of a bayou

Rather than the cool blue

Of faucet

Could I run?
Where would I run to?

The bathroom is at the back of the house

And there’s no way out

Unless you run in the direction

Those footsteps were headed

If I got out of the bath

Whoever was in my house

Would hear the water sloshing

The spillage over the side

The fumbling as I try to get my bearings

I search for anything

I can use as a weapon

The hair dryer is on the bathroom counter

My toothbrush, toothpaste

A hair brush

Would that work?

I decided to stay stock still

As the footsteps stopped

Just before the bathroom

A shadow invited itself

To the bathroom’s doorway

And I could hear a gust of wind

Come through the sliding glass door

And into the living room

I heard it instigate the blinds

And that sound

A sound familiar to me

Who loves leaving the doors open

On autumn days

Was foreign to the intruder

Who did not know my house

And whoever they were

They were rattled enough

To run

Run right through the door

Through the blinds

That had alarmed them

In the first place

I sat in the bath

Not moving

Never moving

Waiting for the water

To drown my breath

And hoping

It would take my fear

With it