3 bedrooms, a Tragicomedy, Act II: Possibilities
In which our heroines, disenchanted by their first brush with the brutal Vancouver-area rental market, venture into the fray once again.
Scene i: elswhere, RW and MG tour a 2 bedroom plus den half-duplex in a somewhat remote working-class neighborhood that is nonetheless walking distance from the Skytrain. (The Skytrain! Ooo, the wonderful Skytrain that is like unto nothing in Seattle except the pointless and useless Monorail!)
Panoramic view of the apartment (wood floors! fireplace! garage! Concrete deck! Though that den does seem awfully tiny, and the outside is a little run down) and the neighborhood (some trees, kids riding bikes, a few stores but not much, a huge--sort of scarily huge--elementary school a couple blocks away).
Landlord: You have references? Credit? Okay, fax it by tomorrow, and I'll let you know.
Us: Okay! Thanks! thanks a lot!
Scene ii: The next morning. elswhere and RW tour an apartment in Nearby Suburb. It is big and the landlady is friendly, but the building feels gloomy and is on a bleak stretch of busy street, heartbreakingly close to but just outside the Preferred School catchment area and a long bus ride from the Skytrain.
Landlady: I'd be happy to rent to you, but I need to keep showing it. Look, I'll be here vacuuming for the next 45 minutes. Why don't you go out for coffee and then call and let me know?
Scene iii: elswhere and RW are huddled in the alley behind the building, frantically weighing the possibilities.
RW: I think the other place is just as big as this one.
elswhere: You think?
RW: And I hate that street. We'd be miserable in winter.
e: You think?
RW: This place is a little cheaper, though. And maybe we could get MG into that school anyway.
e: Hmm, yeah, maybe.
RW: Well, which one do you want more?
e, from the bottom of her urban, public-transportation-loving soul: Truly? I want the other one. But I thought you'd want this one more. It's bigger, and it's in Nearby Suburb.
RW: I don't know. I hate the carpet. But she'll give it to us now. And we'll have to wait to find out about the other one.
e: and maybe no one else will rent to us because we don't have jobs!
RW: And we have that cat!
e & RW: Argh! Argh! What should we do, what should we do? Argh! Argh!
one of us, can't remember which: Okay, let's call and tell her no, let's go for the one near the Skytrain.
other of us: Okay! Whee!
Scene iv: that evening. elswhere and RW, having spent the afternoon writing a cover letter and assembling and then faxing a dossier of recommendation letters and financial information so as to lack up for their new-resident status and lack of jobs, are checking their voicemail:
RW: It's the Skytrain Apartment landlord! He wants to rent to us!!
e: Oh, yay!
RW: But he wants us to start July 15, not August 1.
e: Huh. That's expensive.
RW: There are two other people who want it, but he says we were first.
e: Um...okay, let's do it!
RW: Okay!
RW, elswhere, and MG, dancing around their house-sit: [to the tune of "nyah, nyah nyah nyah nyah]: We have a place to li-ive! We have a place to li-ive!!
But the story's not over. To Be Continued...
Scene i: elswhere, RW and MG tour a 2 bedroom plus den half-duplex in a somewhat remote working-class neighborhood that is nonetheless walking distance from the Skytrain. (The Skytrain! Ooo, the wonderful Skytrain that is like unto nothing in Seattle except the pointless and useless Monorail!)
Panoramic view of the apartment (wood floors! fireplace! garage! Concrete deck! Though that den does seem awfully tiny, and the outside is a little run down) and the neighborhood (some trees, kids riding bikes, a few stores but not much, a huge--sort of scarily huge--elementary school a couple blocks away).
Landlord: You have references? Credit? Okay, fax it by tomorrow, and I'll let you know.
Us: Okay! Thanks! thanks a lot!
Scene ii: The next morning. elswhere and RW tour an apartment in Nearby Suburb. It is big and the landlady is friendly, but the building feels gloomy and is on a bleak stretch of busy street, heartbreakingly close to but just outside the Preferred School catchment area and a long bus ride from the Skytrain.
Landlady: I'd be happy to rent to you, but I need to keep showing it. Look, I'll be here vacuuming for the next 45 minutes. Why don't you go out for coffee and then call and let me know?
Scene iii: elswhere and RW are huddled in the alley behind the building, frantically weighing the possibilities.
RW: I think the other place is just as big as this one.
elswhere: You think?
RW: And I hate that street. We'd be miserable in winter.
e: You think?
RW: This place is a little cheaper, though. And maybe we could get MG into that school anyway.
e: Hmm, yeah, maybe.
RW: Well, which one do you want more?
e, from the bottom of her urban, public-transportation-loving soul: Truly? I want the other one. But I thought you'd want this one more. It's bigger, and it's in Nearby Suburb.
RW: I don't know. I hate the carpet. But she'll give it to us now. And we'll have to wait to find out about the other one.
e: and maybe no one else will rent to us because we don't have jobs!
RW: And we have that cat!
e & RW: Argh! Argh! What should we do, what should we do? Argh! Argh!
one of us, can't remember which: Okay, let's call and tell her no, let's go for the one near the Skytrain.
other of us: Okay! Whee!
Scene iv: that evening. elswhere and RW, having spent the afternoon writing a cover letter and assembling and then faxing a dossier of recommendation letters and financial information so as to lack up for their new-resident status and lack of jobs, are checking their voicemail:
RW: It's the Skytrain Apartment landlord! He wants to rent to us!!
e: Oh, yay!
RW: But he wants us to start July 15, not August 1.
e: Huh. That's expensive.
RW: There are two other people who want it, but he says we were first.
e: Um...okay, let's do it!
RW: Okay!
RW, elswhere, and MG, dancing around their house-sit: [to the tune of "nyah, nyah nyah nyah nyah]: We have a place to li-ive! We have a place to li-ive!!
But the story's not over. To Be Continued...
posted by elswhere | 1:19 AM
5 Comments:
Not over?! Okay, that's ominous...
[Biting fingernails]
I have to keep this comment short so I can go refresh the page to see if you've posted the next installment :).
am now hooked and waiting for next Act...
Good for people to know.
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