Wings and Faith by Joy Redmond

Author:Joy Redmond [Redmond, Joy]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Published: 2015-11-22T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Nine

That weekend, Mandy drove over to Largo. She saw a small house located in a decent neighborhood with a For Rent sign in the front yard. The best part was that it was only four blocks from the middle school. The house was empty but she peered through the windows. It’ll need a lot of cleaning, but it’ll do, maybe. She copied down the phone number that was on the sign.

She went back home, called the number, and the owner quoted her a price that she thought it was too steep, but she asked if he’d let her see the inside. The man said he would meet her at the house in one hour.

Mandy grabbed a quick bite, then headed back to Largo. She pulled into the driveway and an older man was standing in the front yard who was as dirty as the house was on the inside.

Mandy introduced herself and the man nodded his head, then headed for the front door. Friendly old cuss, aren’t you? she thought, as she followed him, then waited for him to unlock. She stepped inside and her nostrils were assaulted with the stale smell of smoke that made her feel sick to her stomach. She turned, looked around and saw the walls were yellowed with nicotine stains. She glanced at the floor and noted the carpets were dry-rotted, then she looked at the curtains. They were as bad as the carpet. It only had two bedrooms, but it had a nice sized living room and kitchen. The kitchen had sliding glass doors that led out to a sun porch.

“I can’t move in here until this place has been cleaned. Now, I’ll clean it in exchange for the deposit. Is that acceptable?”

The man rubbed his bald head for a minute, then said, “Yeah, I guess that’ll be okay. I’m having a hard time renting it. I need the rent money to pay the mortgage on it, so I’ll take the first month’s rent and you can clean and move in when you’re ready.”

“Will you take a personal check?” Mandy asked.

Again, he hesitated and Mandy was about to say thank you for your time, and walk out the door.

“Yeah, I’ll take it,” he said, then reached into his pocket and handed Mandy a key. “Here. Write the check, then it’s all yours.”

For the next week, Mandy and Wanda cleaned the house after they got off work. They shampooed the carpets, washed down the walls, and vacuumed the drapes. The smoke smell had been replaced with the strong smell of bleach and ammonia.

They went home after they had cleaned all they could, and sat out on the patio. “Kati and Tina will have to share a bedroom, and Abbie and I will share the other one. And there’s no way I’m going to get all my furniture in that little cracker box. So I’ll have to store a lot in the garage. My car will just have to stay parked in the driveway and the paint will blister in this heat.

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