Come this year I have escaped the grasp of my apartment complex next to the stadium into the land of home rental. Four bedrooms, two porches, and gardening potential; it is a rickety beauty old as the trees on the hill itself. Unfortunately, the old owners did not appreciate it as much as I do and left it in disarray upon move in.
A busted washer, stove, windows, and a hole the size of me in the wall, the poor home had taken a beating. Now with maintenance comes maintenance men to do the job, and let me tell you, we have quite a colorful collection. First are the brothers, Bob and Tony. Both have been in construction since they were about fifteen and never looked back, they know this work and love it. Its funny having brothers working together, they know each other and fight like two young kids. Smoke and lunch breaks are long for the pair but they work hard and hasty.
Our second friend I know not by name, but I suspect is the ring leader. He likes to show up with the boss man (our landlord) and do the big jobs and inspections and fights with our very soft spoken landlord as though they have been friends since the third grade.
The last worker, who happens to be the inspiration behind this post is Allan. His actual age unknown but estimated to be between 60-70, has no teeth and an obvious beer gut. Allan claims to have lived in almost every city in America and has quite the stories. Apparently he is writing his autobiography, but not as you would think, he explained it as Shakespeare sonnet style, at least that is, the rhyme scheme. The then proceeds to give me a sample, and rattles out a story in said rhyme scheme but very Charlie Daniels style, about how when he was nine years old he beat a man to death in his sleep with a baseball bat because he hit his mother that evening. He got seven years....
But as far as fixings go, we have a replaced washer and a semi-patched wall, oh and one stove burner is currently operational. Baby steps!
For now all I care about is that the porch is in tact and I can enjoy the breeze rolling off my hilltop.
Till next time ,
JCL
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