Mid January, I got an email from a woman in response to an ad I had posted on Craigslist. She wanted to rend my couch. She send me her phone numbers, both work and cell and asked for me to call her. I did. She seemed nice. She had told me that she was older and was working in 'the industry'. Her job was less than ten minutes drive from my house. She told me that she knew she was going to take the place, to please not let anyone take it. I had had a guy come to check the place out that very afternoon. He told me he liked it, was almost certain he was going to take it but wanted to go a couple of blocks from me to check another place first. Fine! I liked that guy, he seemed chill. He had just started a new job of driving trucks or something to that effect. He was basically going to be gone all the time. Even if he was going to be home, he seemed like he had a cool enough personality that it wouldn't be weird.
He told me that he was going to get back to me the following day about his decision. He had told me that he lived not far from me and wanted to save money. My place was $100 less than where he lived. That, to me didn't seem like a lot of money for someone who was trying to save money. I felt as if he would want to stay somewhere even cheaper if he could.
The lady offered to pay weekly but stay for at least two months. I didn't want to commit to anything until I met her.
The following evening, the lady, we'll call her Lisa, showed up. She called to let me she was outside. As usual, I went out to meet her. This lady had parked slap bam in the middle of the driveway! None of my neighbors were going to be able to park their cars! That's a pet peeve of mine! Inconsiderate people. That's like parking someone in! I suggested she move her car, just enough for the neighbors to be able to squeeze in, at least! I get it, all the street parking spots were taken, but that's life! It happens! Park in the next block! Her car was full of stuff, somehow, she reminded me of Jen. It seemed more like she lived in her car than someone who had lived where she lived for years as she had told me. I wondered if there weren't any dead cats underneath all that stuff. Or humans.
As Lisa was getting out of the car, she first led with a cane. That was a shocker to me! I offered to help her up, she declined, telling me that she needed to see if she would be able to do it without me there. Which was a good point. She had asked me over the phone if there are any stairs leading to my apartment. I told her I was on the ground level. Seeing her with a cane explained everything.
We walked towards the room, r e a l l y s l o w l y ! I didn't mind. I was in no rush. It was after 7pm. She worked 7am till 7pm or something to that effect, which would suit me just fine. Not that I'm at home all the time but I am a lot and having someone sleep in the living room is tricky, you need to plan accordingly.
She struggled with the one step on the verandah. She told me that that was something she would have to think about. I had told her there were no stairs and now here we are. As if I'm a liar of something. Lady, please! I'm on the ground level! If you had told me you have a situation, maybe I would have gone out of my way to take a video from the parking lot to the door for you to get all the intricate details. She told me that people judge her on using a cane, so she didn't want that to deter me from renting the place. She liked my energy and thought that she would have a nice time at my place PLUS! It's close to her job. She giggled a lot. Maybe she was nervous. I did ask her why she used a cane. She told me that she was recovering from something, it wasn't permanent. I think it was. She had been recovering from more than two years, I think.
Lisa was 65 years old, had never been married, no kids, was not in a relationship and had never owned a home. At the time I met her, she was renting a room from a friend. Even though she loved it there, according to her, it was very far from her job.Before the friend, she had rented an apartment for ten years but blah blah blah, more problems!
We hung out for a bit while, sussing each other out, haha. She seemed like someone who just needed a break in life. She had told me that she was saving for an apartment and would like to stay at mine for two months. I told her I would think about the two months thing. My lease would be up in three months, then I would move in with Cal. Maybe I should let this lady stay here, I was hardly at my place anyway. She was home during weekends, I spent every weekend at Cal's. This could work out.
She asked me if she could bring her heater, apparently, she gets cold at night. I told her I wasn't crazy about that idea. We're in LA, it's not that cold even in the winter months. I told her I did have a gas heater on the wall, she could use that to heat up the room and then turn it off when going to bed because it's very strong, it makes the entire house overheat so to speak and makes it uncomfortable. She offered to pay extra for using too much heat which I thought was fair, but I told her we would see how it goes. I was willing to let it go if it wasn't that much, gas isn't expensive. When I had Dot at my place, she used to blast that heater all the night,until my nostrils were so dry, I felt like I was back in Vegas; I would sneak in and turn it off in the middle of the night when I couldn't breathe. It was like being in an oven, the gas bill was not that bad then.
Lisa had told me that she only had a few items of clothing, that didn't matter to me because I had a spare closet in the hallway for tenants.
Lisa wanted me to offer her the place but I wanted to sleep on it. I also wanted to hear from the guy before I made my final decision.
That's sad. A 65 year old woman who has her possessions in her car!
ReplyDeleteVery sad for a woman to have such instability at her age. It pulls at one's heart strings
DeleteMy Mom is 63 and I wouldn't want her to go through that. I suppose what she was doing at our age is the result of where ahe is now
DeleteIt makes you wonder what could have happened that led her to where she is now. She has a great job! She told me she does theatre, one woman shows, this and that, AND she has an actual full time job.
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