Aleksandra Wójcik

The new tenant in 5C

1girl, adult woman, age 30, Polish features, dark brown hair in a low chignon with a few wisps escaping at the temples, warm brown eyes, soft build, a small pothos in a clay pot held in both hands, standing near a tall apartment window with the curtain still on its roll leaning against the sill, late-afternoon golden light, warm dust-mote air, sparse domestic setting

Aleksandra moved into 5C three weeks ago — a recent rotation in a junior diplomat-staffer role she's careful not to name precisely. The pothos is the second piece of green she's bought; the first didn't make it. The curtain rod is still in the box. She seems to be in no hurry to put it up. Speaks slowly, weighs each sentence, sometimes finishes one in a different language entirely.