Back in September 2009, I posted an ad in Craigslist to rent out my spare bedroom beginning Oct. 1st. In the ad I said that the room was for single occupancy at $700 monthly. I also said that if there were two people, the price would be $875.00 monthly. I never intended for two people to share the room, though, because it's barely big enough for one. Anyway, I received a lot of offers from twosomes who wanted to rent the room and pay the original $700.00 for both of 'em! That would've been $350 per person. I turned down all those offers via e-mail. Well, October 1st rolled around and I hadn't rented the room. That night around the nine or ten o'clock hour, I received a phone call on my home phone. I rarely answer that phone. But, this night, I did. On the other end was one of the people I had turned down via e-mail. He sounded desperate. He told me that he and his cousin had just been thrown out of the apartment they were sharing with two other guys and had no place to go. He told me he was half black (I imagine because he assumed from my voice that I was, too). I reiterated that the room wasn't for two people. He told me that his cousin had $800 and would give that to me in cash if I reconsidered. Immediately, I thought, what if this was I, wouldn't I want someone to help me? I then said, okay, and invited them over that very moment. When they showed up, they were really short, young guys. Both no more than 5'6" or so. The black one probably weighed a buck-o-five soaking wet. He said he was 20. The white one was 22. The black one looked odd to me. Actually, he looked like a cross between an Australian aborigine and Gizmo, from the movie, Gremlins. And he had streaked hair that he insisted was natural. Well, as time went on, the white one began to badger the black one to repay the money he initially gave me for both of them. Sometimes the badgering was so relentless I had to step in and tell the white kid to calm down. Little did I know that that situation was an omen for circumstances to come. Should've been a MAJOR, RED FLAG! -- I believe in keeping what little I have clean and orderly. The white kid doesn't live by those precepts. As a result, I told him he had to move out by Dec. 31st. Before he left, though, he let the cat out of the bag that he and the black boy weren't related at all. It was simply a story the black kid concocted so that a landlord would feel obligated to let them stay together. Again, an omen for what was to come. That left the tiny, black dude here alone. He and I coexisted for a month until I placed another ad to replace the white kid. I had gotten accustomed to stocking away their rents. Mind you, the black kid always had a story why he couldn't pay on time after the white kid left. Anyway, the new person moved in on February 5th. I moved the skinny, black kid out of the spare room and placed him AND one of my queen-sized beds in the living room. I figured, what the heck, let the little dude have his own space of sorts. Because the tv background work he used to do wasn't coming in as plentifully (or because he wasn't calling in his availability), he really didn't have an incoming cash flow. And it didn't appear that that mattered to him. Every month he seemed fine with calling his parents for money. And virtually every month they gave him next to nothing. I was always puzzled when he'd tell me that both parents (divorced) offered to fly him back to their respective homes to regroup and then decide what he wanted to do. I mean, wouldn't the money they'd have to spend to fly him home simply pay his $400 rent???? Verrry strange to me. And, once, his stepmother sent him a $200 check which bounced from here to Jupiter! Of course that meant he couldn't pay rent THAT month on time either! To help him out I told him that all he'd have to pay for in my place was his toiletries, food and rent. I bought the toilet paper, paper towels, spices for cooking, etc. All tangible items that his usage drained time and time again. Nobody uses as much toilet paper as he does! And that always confused me because he has a body the size of a 10-yr-old! And not a particularly nourished 10-yr-old at that! -- His stories about his life, and what he's doing, and knows how to do, and will be doing became more and more fanciful. Everything about him was OVER-THE-F*CKIN'-TOP! And his constant need for approval and adoration became sooooo grating I found myself barricading myself in my bedroom, shuddering if I heard his voice outside my room! Please don't want to talk to me, I thought! At one point, I got down on my knees and apologized to God for what I was feeling. Which was: does this kid bother me so much because I find him so physically unattractive? And, truth be told, the answer is twofold: I'm sure if I thought he was an attractive kid I'd take more of his nonsense. The wise man knows that pretty people get away with things that the not-so-pretty can't. And, if he hadn't shown himself to be--time and time again--freewheeling with the truth, I'd probably enjoy him, too. He told me that his mother sent him to live with his father at 11 yrs old because she couldn't deal with his lying and stealing. THAT I believe! -- When this month rolled around, he told me he'd be starting a job at Starbucks last Monday. Hallelujah, I thought. The Sunday before, I told him I'd go into the Starbucks to order something from him on his first day. It was then that he told me he wouldn't be starting on Monday after all. He told me that the person he was supposed to replace had decided to stay on a little longer. How much longer, I asked. He said he didn't know. Isn't that rich, I thought! He had paid only $110 for March's rent and was now tellin' me that he didn't know WHEN he'd be working! And then he threw salt into the wound by staying in bed 'til 11:30 AM the following mornings. I couldn't take anymore! I roused him out of bed on one of those mornings and told him until he put his rent into my hand, he was to be up and OUT of the apt by 10 AM every day! He did as he was told and didn't return home 'til the wee hours of the night each night. Until
last night!
Last night he brought two, overweight dudes into the house with him. He sent one of them back to my bedroom. The fella knocked on my door and called out for me. I didn't recognize the voice, but stepped out of the room. The fella had walked back into the kitchen by then. I followed. There, in the kitchen, stood another overweight brotha. The skinny, aborigine-lookin' cat stood in the living room. The bigger of the overweight brothas told me that the skinny aborigine told them that there was tension in my household. (Knowing him, I'm sure he told them I drew a gun on him after attempting to stab him and/or slit his throat). The bigger dude told me that he didn't want such tension to happen again. Come again, I thought? Is this big n*gga threatening me subliminally? He then proceeded to hand me a wad of cash (what aborigine boy still owed for the month). I told him I'd happily help them gather the funny-lookin', skinny dude's belongings and put 'em in their car. Of course, the place that he's going to isn't ready for him 'til April 1st or thereabouts. Grrrrrreat, I thought. So, they were here to simply pay his rent and wait for him to pack some things to take with him. He left with them. The payment of the rest of his rent was in hope that my place could be a storage facility for his belongings until he moves at month's end. -- This kid really pulled the wool over my eyes. He talked a good game and I fell for it hook, line and sinker. Just like the white boy did when they first moved in here. Now, I clearly see why he was adamant about making sure he and the white boy weren't separated. Because he had NO money and the white boy did. Without him, the aborigine COULDN'T have moved ANYWHERE! As soon as he realized he had worked me over enough, he didn't care WHAT happened to the white kid. And now that I'VE figured him out, he has gone to his church and worked over the overweight brothas to pay his bills. I told the bigger brotha that if I should run into him (the bigger brotha) on the street after this blows over, to please tell me if the aborigine was kicked out of the next place, too! There seems to be a pattern with him and his landlords. And the only common denominator in all his residential woes is HE!!! He wants everything for NOTHING. But why should that surprise me? This nation's prison system is filled with young & old black cats who feel EXACTLY as he does! He's 21 years old, so I shan't give up hope that one day he will see the error in his ways and make a change. I shan't give up hope! But I do give up enabling him another moment. Yep, my white flag is blowing in the wind of change!
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