One
Ophelia
Ithink I’m safe because I can’t hear his keys jangling in the distance. Then, just as I step out onto the third floor, he appears from around the corner.
“Miss Addams,” he says in that hollow wheeze of his. “Rent is past due.” He’s holding the keys tightly in his hand so they don’t make a sound as he approaches.
I plaster my most winning smile onto my face. “Mr. Butler. What can I do for you on this fine day?”
Was he hiding? Waiting for me after I got past him without stopping on the way out this morning?
You learn the best ways to avoid the super when the rent’s late. Don’t answer the phone. Don’t answer the door. Hope you can get another job quickly before the threats of eviction turn into the real thing at last.
He shifts from side to side as he walks to keep his bulk from banging into the grease stained walls. His crab walk continues as he gets nearer, the smell of him growing overpowering.
I manage to resist wrinkling my nose but it’s not easy when I get a full blast of stale sweat and cat pee slapping me in the face. “Rent is way behind, Miss Addams. You know the rules. I’ve been lenient enough. You work or you leave. You no work. You no live here.”
I manage to keep my smile in place, ignoring the flecks of Cheetos dust in his beard. “Like I said this morning, I will get the rent for you as soon as I get a new job.”
“You promised me by the end of today.”
“I don’t remember saying that.”
“As you ran out of here this morning, you yelled it. Rent by the end of the day.”
“I said if I get the job, I could ask for an advance, that was all. I didn’t get the job.”
He sniffs loudly, wiping his nose with the back of his hand as he examines me closely. “You have been out all morning. No interview takes that long. You have been working somewhere. I can smell it on you.”
“Not that I have to tell you this but I’ve been at the library working on my book since the interview ended.”
He coughs out a wet laugh that’s too thick to be healthy. “Libraries are as good for nothing as you are. Waste of taxpayers’ money.”
“At least the heating works there, unlike here. When are you going to get the furnace looked at?”
“When my tenants start paying their rent on time. I have been patient enough with you, Miss Addams. This last year you have been late four times. I give you the benefit of the doubt but you cannot hold down a job. My patience is at an end. I give you one week from today. If the money you owe is not in my hand seven days from now, you and your friend will have to move out.” He smiles darkly as I breathe in sharply. “Oh, yes. I know all about you subletting, Miss Addams.”
“I’ve just got a friend staying for a while. That’s not a crime is it?”
“Why would you want to be friends with a …”
“With a what, Mr. Butler?”
“With … one of them.”
“Do you mean a black woman? Are you seriously asking me that question? Did that sound all right in your head?”
“I’m no racist. I just think you should stick …”
I cut him off. “Whatever you were going to say, don’t. Just don’t.”
A frown forms on his face. “Rent,” he says, getting back to his favorite subject. “One week. Or …”
He takes a step closer to me, his smile broadening, his breathing growing shallow. “Maybe there is another way you could pay me what you owe me. I have been so lonely since my wife died.”
He reaches a hand out toward my hair, the nicotine stained fingers getting way too close for my liking. “A man has needs, after all.”
I frantically turn and get the key in my lock, calling back over my shoulder. “I’ll have the money for you next week,”