Jin Sao sighed as he stared out of the window. Life wasn't going as he had dreamed it would. His money was fast running out. The twenty—six year old IT professional hadn't thought about the recession before packing his bags and landing up in New York City's J.F.Kennedy international airport.

He picked up his phone in haste as it rang, hoping against hope that it was a call from his agent. Maybe he had an interview lined up. Maybe he had found something that was not another minimum wage temp offer.

'Allo' he whispered, his hand trembling.

'I got an offer' the interviewer intoned, 'but it needs experience. 7-10 years they're asking for. How many you got?'

'You're my agent, don't you know?' Jin tried to make light of the pit in his stomach.

'Don' waste my time, you moron' the agent barked, 'How many you got?'

'Four' Jin muttered.

Silence.

'Go home, Chingchong' the agent's voice lightened. Perhaps he heard his misery over the phone. 'I got trouble placing Americans 'ere. You're too qualified for what I'm tryna do.'

Jin cut the call. That was all he could do now.

Once upon a time, he had a wonderful job in a small firm. Didn't pay much, but atleast it paid. Then set in the recession, and he thought, well, maybe America the great would have a job for him. He was a topper, he was fast, he knew he was bloody good.

'Now look at me!' he mumbled to himself, 'Stuck in a pathetic hundred-dollar-a-week flat with no salary.'

He glanced at his home from the window side. It looked so prosaic, he thought.

'No' he corrected himself, 'It is boring. It looks dead. I feel dead.'

He didn't want to go back to Beijing. As he looked out of the window, he saw a flock of birds flying by. A slight breeze was blowing, and the sunset had reddened the entire sky till as far as he could see. In the wasteland adjoining his building, he saw a mongrel chase a plastic bag that the wind had chosen to play with that day.

'Boring' he said with a tone of finality before going in. After all, he had packing to do.

**

In the apartment right next to Jin's, Maisie Dupree was busy ironing her newly washed clothes when a flock of birds flying by caught her eye. She switched off the iron and went to the window with her coffee mug. She was loving life at the moment. She liked her job as a waitress in a nearby café, even though it didn't pay so well. Actually, any job that included Jason as her co-worker was absolutely fine.

'If only I had enough courage to ask him out on a date, it would be so great' she thought.

She took a deep breath as the fresh breeze blew on her face. She could see the small trees bending in the breeze.

'I'll ask him tomorrow' she told herself for the millionth time in the day.

The phone rang at the very same moment, as if it knew what was going on in her head. She rushed to pick it up, and her heart thundered at the speed of a bullet train as she read the caller-id on it.

"H..Hi" her voice trembled as she spoke.

"Hey...this is Maisee right?" asked the male voice on the other side.

"H..hi Jason" she managed.

"What are you doing tonight, Mase?"

"N...nothing...nothing at all" a wide, wide grin set on her face, "Why do you ask?"

"Ah...I was wondering...would you like to go bowling or something?...Shit, I know it's not that great...I mean...We could go wherever you want...you know-"

"I'd love to go bowling, Jason" she breathed into the phone, trying her best to not jump around in glee.

"So..." the voice sounded relieved, "See you around seven? I'll pick you up?"

"Yeah"

"See ya, Mase"

"Bye, Jason."

With an ecstatic frame of mind and a wide smile, she went back to her place at the window to finish her coffee.

The wide expanse in front of the building looked barren, like it was hungering for rain. The red sunset completed a very melancholy picture. She wanted to frame that moment, freeze it for eternity. The moment where her wish finally came true. The moment that told her that great things awaited her in the future.

The moment when she felt that she could have the whole world if that's what she wanted, never mind that she was a poor waitress, with an equally poor crush.

'Inspiring, isn't it?' she murmured before she got back to ironing. She had to finish it double quick. God knows how long it would take to put together an outfit for tonight.

**

Gabriel Law banged the door of his apartment below Maisie's. He could see the sun set from his window. A sunset marked the end of the day. He didn't want to face his boss again. He had managed to catch the thief who had broken into the confectionery shop, but his superior had shouted at him, calling him a 'lousy cop' and a 'good for nothing'.

He almost wanted to throw away his phone when it rang, but he stopped at the last moment. It might be a tip off about that burglar, after all.

It wasn't, it was his lawyer.

"What?' he barked into the phone dourly. This was one headache he could definitely do without.

"Where were you today?' The lawyer barked back.

"What do you mean where...shit shit shit" Gabe shut his eyes in sheer misery.

The divorce settlement.

"Your wife asks for a monthly maintenance of a thousand dollars, and five hundred for each kid, saying you neglect them. And guess where you are, you asshole" the lawyer hollered, "You're not frickin there! Just like she accused you of, you're not there even for the bloody settlement!"

"So...what now?" Gabe's mind blanked out.

"So nothing" grumbled the lawyer, "You lost. Keep paying her two thousand dollars a month."

"I can't!" Gabe screamed into the phone, "I make twenty-five hundred a month! How can I pay her two thousand of it?"

"You gotta pay for your mistakes, Gabe" the lawyer sighed, "in your case, literally."

With that, he cut the call. Gabe stared at the phone blankly for a minute before finally throwing it away onto the other armchair.

And now, the sun was setting. The faster it set, the less time he would have before facing his boss again. The faster it set, the sooner would a new day begin, and the sooner would this charade play out again.

Was there no out to this situation? Was there no emergency exit?

'Fuckin' depressing' He thought as he turned and walked to his kitchen. There was dinner to make, and a scotch bottle to get drunk on.

**

Two houses away, Mrs. Redman was sitting near the window with her list of weekly expenditure. She was worried—just like other months, it was going to be hard to scrape through this month without going bankrupt. Frustrated, she looked out at the wide expanse of dry land.

Before she could think of anything, the trusty, battered landline rang – a miracle as she thought that it was dead.

"Yes" she sighed as she picked it up.

"Ma..ma it's me" her youngest son's voice came on.

"Trey? What's going on?" she gripped it harder.

"I'm in the police station downtown..."

Oh dear god.

"What did you do now?" she slumped onto the chair. This wasn't Trey's first call, and by now she had accepted that it won't be his last.

"Nothing, a stupid...it wasn't my idea anyway" Trey grumbled, "You need to come bail me out."

Mrs. Redman crashed the mouthpiece onto the phone, head in her hands. Where would she get the money from to bail out this black sheep? Just how long would this keep going on?

The fading light caught her eye, and like a blind woman, she stumbled onto the window ledge to see the day ending.

'It's the same as yesterday' she half mumbled to herself, 'Why can it never change? It's frustrating. Why, Good Lord, just for once, why can it not be different?'

A mongrel dog chased after a plastic bag. She sighed and got back to work. She had to recalculate the expenses list, cut down on food, maybe they could do one month without all that stationery.

After all, she couldn't waste her time staring out at happy dogs who had all the time in the world and no responsibilities.

**

Little did the four of them know that they were looking at the same piece of junkyard in front of their building. To an untrained eye, it would seem like any other patch of barren land with stray pieces of metal littering it, and the sun setting in the horizon. But when emotions affect our perception, who knows?