Chapter 2-1
368 Words
Chapter 2
Signing the lease didn’t go without complications.
Eeli tried to fold the contract in such a way that Patrik could see only the rate, and not the address, of Eeli’s new home. But of course, the sum was suspiciously low by any standards. Downtown you could be able to lease a broom closet with that kind of money, if the closet were very small, without brooms, and had not been renovated for decades.
“You didn’t sweeten the deal with your hairy ass,” Patrik asked half seriously before his eyes found the right line. “s**t! What the hell, man! Are you insane?”
“Look, you know what people say about the east side. Sure, the people who live there are on average not so well off than the people in the other parts of the city, but do you see burning cars or smashed windows when you ride to work? No, of course you don’t. It’s much the same with the Mansions. Yeah, the place has a reputation, but it’s not a ghetto you see in the Hollywood movies. I inspected that apartment. It could use a little paint, but the air didn’t smell bad and the plumbing was working beautifully. There were no bullet holes on the carport walls or narcs using meth at the street corners. All I saw was some old wino sitting on a bench near the swings. He asked me for money, and when I didn’t have any coins, he bid me good day.”
“Yes well,” Patrik admitted with a sneer. “Polite alcoholics. Everything is fine then. Maybe, just maybe, you will meet Charles Dickens, who happens to live next door. Then you’ll write a disarming novel together about those wacky but amiable losers with their hearts of gold.”
“You belong to the wealthier part of the middle class. Nice to act so f*****g condescending. I’m one of your losers now, you know.”
“No, you’re not.”
“Until I get a new job, I will be worse off than any of my neighbors. As a former company owner I can’t even collect worker’s benefits…But hey, let’s have it your way. I’ll put an ad in some buy-and-sell group. One hairy ass will be exchanged for an air mattress on a warm living room floor.”
“Eeli, be reasonable.”
“That I am,” Eeli said and gave Patrik a gloomy smile. “I’m not going to pay a cent more for a place I’ll use only for sleeping.”
- Writer
