Silver Swan Apartments: Episode 1, Part 2
The Silver Swan Apartments was a very tall building right next to the lake. It sat on the end of its block, but there were more apartment buildings continuing on the next block. She parked her car in the parking lot in an open space and took a deep breath of the fresh air. She walked in and stepped towards the first door that said: Landlady.
The woman that opened the door did not look very kind. She was stout and short, looking like a very disgruntled fairy godmother. Her silver hair was in hot pink curlers and she had managed to scrunch into a pair of overalls over her nightgown. The apartment behind her smelled like apple pie and kitty litter. The woman took one look at Clara and then took a step backwards and closed the door. Clara was confused, and a bit hurt as she stood their not knowing what to do. On the left side of the hall though, opened a window, and the stout woman appeared through it.
“I like to see when my tenants are coming and going,” she said in a surprisingly gruff voice. Clara nodded like she understood the woman’s nosiness.
“What do you want?” she asked before Clara could cut to the chase.
“I’m interested in the room for rent.”
“I thought so. Why didn’t you call?”
“I called on the way,” Clara said. After realizing in her haste that she hadn’t even called to see if the room was available, Clara had marched back up the stairs and called the number before leaving again.
“Are you that girl that just called?”
“Yes, I’m Clara White.”
“Hmm. I don’t remember that conversation. Oh, well.”
"May I see the apartment?”
“Sure, I don’t have anything better to do today.” The woman closed the window and then left her room through the door. She beckoned for Clara to follow her up the stairs to the third floor.
“You can have pets free of charge, but if they ruin the carpeting they are out without a warning. I’m not going to have a repeat of that stupid nervous Chihuahua piddling all over the carpeting. Oh, that was a pain.”
The woman was huffing by the time she reached the door and pulled out a large ring of keys. She slipped one into the lock and opened the door smoothly.
The door opened into a large, bright living space. There were honeycomb blinds on the windows on the walls across from her and on her right. The wall on the right led to a hall and next to the door she was standing in was a small coat closet. Like promised, she could see a wonderful view of the lake from the back window.
The hallway had two doors on the right and a large linen closet and bathroom on the left. The hall led to a particularly large kitchen with more window views of the lake and an island kitchenette. The left wall of the kitchen had a door that went to the balcony, which she saw extended to her bedroom a little ways away. The sun was starting to set on the lake, casting a tangerine glow on the black water. The wind rustled her red hair and she felt…not relaxed, but rejuvenated.
The landlady coughed, breaking her ecstasy. “I have a lot of people asking about this room, so I need to know if you’re going to have it today.”
“Today?”
“Yes today!”
“Well I have a lot of questions to ask first.”
“We’ll go downstairs and ask them, but I want an answer soon on whether or not you’re taking it.”
“Why haven’t you leased this out sooner if it’s so popular?” Clara said a little more irritated than she had hoped.
“Well? What are your questions?”
“How often to I have to pay rent and how much is it?”
“550 a month. Every payment is due by the first of the next month. You lease it out for a year.”
“550! The ad said 500!”
“Does it?” the woman wrinkled her nose. “No wonder I can’t get that apartment rented.” She looked Clara up and down. “What do you do for a living?”
“I’m a writer,” she said. “I work at 1740 Bedford Street downtown where I edit the Arts and Entertainment section of the local paper and I edit various stories wanting to be published.”
“How much do you get paid a year?”
“$15,000.”
“Any hope of a promotion?”
“I just had a promotion.”
“I guess I’ll give it to you for 500. But don’t ruin it or I’m adding to your rent.”
“Does this include heat, electricity, gas, and water?”
“Of course! What kind of a place do you think I have? We’ve got laundry on the premise, but that’ll cost you extra. You can have pets, but like I said, take care of them. I don’t want any unusual stains on the carpeting. If you want my opinion, get fish. If you want to change the length of your lease at the end of the year, you can. Parking’s in back but spaces are first come, first serve. Anything else you have to pay for yourself. Oh, and you can swim in the lake if you want, the beach is about a mile west.”
“What sort of security do you have?”
“I’ve got a shotgun and a window to the entrance.”
“That it?”
The woman laughed. “We’ve also got state of the art locks on the all the doors and an automatic burglary system for the front door. But you’re on the third floor, no one should get in through the window.”
“Well,” Clara sighed. “When can I sign and move in?”
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