By: Don

Leo adjusted a tiny dial on the black frames of his eyeglasses with one hand and tapped a few keys on his laptop with the other.

     “Come on,” he pleaded under his breath.  “Work.”

     Leo looked over at Charley, asleep on his little dog bed in the corner of the room.

     “How are you today, Charley?”

     At the sound of his name, Charley woke up, lifted his head and looked at Leo.

     Then Leo pressed a small button on his glasses.

     “Confused.”

     That single word was emitted from a bud nestled in Leo’s left ear.

     Leo let out a laugh. 

     “All right!” he said.

     Charley tilted his head.

     “Confused, huh?” Leo said with a smile.  “Well, you might be confused, Charley, but everything’s becoming clear to me.”

     At last, Leo thought.  He’d designed, redesigned and experimented with this device for nearly three years.  Special eyeglasses that could “see” emotions.  If Charley was indeed confused, this was the first time Leo’s invention had worked so well.

     Leo had long dreamed about the wealth and fame his invention could bring him.  He knew that, if it worked, he would be celebrated as one of the world’s greatest inventors.

     But of course, just because his device worked on a dog didn’t mean it would work with people.  So Leo headed outside to try it among the masses.

     He locked his apartment door and headed down the hall to the elevator.  He pushed the button, and soon the doors opened.  Inside was a young woman with a little boy in a stroller.  As Leo stepped in, she smiled a small smile, but her gaze remained fixed on the boy.

     As the elevator descended, Leo turned slightly toward the woman and pressed the button on the frame of his glasses.

     “Anxious” sounded in his ear, a bit more loudly than “confused” with Charley.

     Leo noticed the woman was now watching him out of the corner of her eye and gripping the handles of the stroller tightly.  As soon as the elevator came to a stop and the doors opened, she pushed the stroller out fast.

     Leo found the episode rather curious, but he was thrilled his device had worked with a human being.  He crossed the lobby, pushed open a glass door and stepped out onto the sidewalk, along which people hurried to and fro.

     Leo made his way to the nearest street corner, where several people were waiting for the light to change.  In front of him stood a tall, handsome, middle-aged man wearing a dark blue suit and holding a slim leather briefcase.

     Leo inched just beyond him, then stopped, looked over at the man’s face and pressed the button on his glasses.

     In his ear, he heard ”self doubt.”

     Just then, the light changed, but the man hesitated, as if he wasn’t sure it was indeed safe to cross.

     Two blocks later, Leo spotted a young couple coming toward him, walking hand in hand.  She wore an easy smile.  He looked grim.  

     When they were almost right in front of him, Leo brought his index finger to his glasses and pressed the button.

     “Euphoric” sounded in his ear.  Then, more loudly, “afraid.”

     They need to talk, Leo thought.

     Walking on, he came to an old woman sitting alone on a bench, staring into the distance.

     Leo stopped and, as nonchalantly as he could, turned her way.  Once again, he pressed the button on his glasses.

     “Lonely” echoed in his ear, this time loud enough that he wondered if someone else might have heard.

     For the rest of that day, Leo walked around the city, observing strangers, pressing the button on his glasses and gleaning emotions.  An “ashamed” man.  A “jealous” woman.  An “insecure” girl.

     In some cases, people’s expressions gave away their feelings.  But in most cases, Leo was surprised.  Most people, he observed, hid their feelings well.

     And what was completely unexpected was the volume level of the words in Leo’s ear.  Over the course of the day, he concluded volume must be an indication of the intensity of the emotions he was “seeing” through his device.

     That evening, Leo reflected on his experience.  He had seen and heard so much, far more than he ever had walking around the city.  Through his special glasses, a hidden world had been revealed to him.

     Leo was thrilled his invention had finally worked.  Yet he was left with an uneasy feeling, as if he had entered a place he didn’t belong and uncovered things that were none of his business.

     Leo sat at his desk and logged onto his laptop.  He tapped a few keys, and up popped a list of the words he’d heard that day.  They were all anonymous.  Still, he felt he had taken possession of something that wasn’t his.

     Leo got up, went into his bedroom and looked in his mirror.  He was still wearing his special glasses.  He brought his finger to the frame and pressed the button.  “Wrong” rang in his ear.

     Leo took off the glasses and went back into office.  The program he’d created was still open on his laptop.  With the stroke of a few keys, he deleted it.

     Then Leo stood up, picked up the glasses and dropped them onto the hardwood floor.  He lifted his right foot and, leaning in, smashed and ground them under his heel.

     The whole time, Charley barked furiously.  When Leo finally took his foot away from the broken plastic and shattered glass, Charley went silent and looked up at Leo with a kind of smile.

     “Happy, boy?” Leo said.

     Charley yipped, as if to say yes.

     Stepping around the splintered remains of years of hard work and big dreams, Leo grabbed Charley’s leash and said, “Let’s go for a walk.”