by Gary Beck
"So what are we supposed to do, become invisible?"
"You’re in a difficult place. You gotta learn not to make a fuss."
Later, Beth told Miss Lily what Ephraim had suggested, and she agreed with him.
"We’re in a new place, chile, with some bad people doin’ bad things. He’s the only friend we got here. It makes a lot of sense to listen to him."
"So we should just accept whatever they do to us?"
"I don’t think it’s a good idea to fight them."
"Then we’re like prisoners here and we have to live with fear all the time."
"Chile, we be in the system. That’s the way it works when you’re poor and desperate. First they makes it as hard as they can to get help, then they puts you somewhere with evil all around you, to punish you for bein needy."
Beth wasn’t sure how to take this. "Do you think they do it deliberately?"
"You seen some of it with your own eyes. If they cared about poor people they wouldn’t let them sleep on the floor in that E.A.U. office and send them to those drug motels. Why should this place be any better?"
"We have to talk to the rest of the group tonight and decide what to do."
When the group got together after dinner they discussed their situation and came to several conclusions. They couldn’t go back to the Department of Homeless Services and ask to be relocated, since the motels were probably even worse than the King Charles. They couldn’t fight the upstairs gang because the children would be too at-risk. They had to maintain a low profile, not keep any valuables in the rooms, make sure never to travel alone and try to move from the hotel as soon as possible. Peter told the group that he would be speaking to his former landlord in the morning and he would try his best to get apartments for all of them.
Miss Lily put an arm around Beth and Peter and hugged them. "You and Beth have become our good friends. Without you two, we’d all either still be sleepin’ on the floor in the E.A.U. or be in one of those motels where the drug dealers be breakin’ down our doors day and night. This place may be bad, but we’ll survive it. If you two can get your apartment back, take it and get out of here." Kiesha and Hector echoed her sentiment.
Peter phoned the landlord in the morning with a renewed sense of urgency, but only reached a recording. He made several more calls that were also added to the machine. The landlord finally called him back in the afternoon and they arranged to meet Friday morning.
On Thursday, Beth had a pleasant surprise. There was a knock on her door in the late morning and it was the hotel social worker, Ms. Cummins. She made all sorts of excuses for not visiting earlier, but Beth overlooked them.
"My friends and I have a chance to get our own apartments, if we had some financial assistance."
Ms. Cummins hemmed and hawed, but finally admitted she might be able to arrange rent subsidies and a bonus to the landlord, if he accepted homeless families. She wasn’t certain of the amount but promised to find out right away. They actually parted on friendly terms, probably because Ms. Cummins would be getting rid of four cases that would reflect credit on the Department of Homeless Services.
When Peter and the landlord sat down in his storefront office on Avenue D, Peter tried not to appear desperate. The landlord repeated his offer of the sublet apartment, but Peter again declined. "I want a permanent apartment for my family and apartments for my three friends."
"I can give you an apartment, but not your friends."
"Why not? They’re good families and they’ll make fine tenants."
"I’ll lose a fortune renting to them if I place them in a renovated building, unless they can pay $2,000 a month."
"They can only pay $800 now, but their incomes will go up and they’ll be able to pay more."
"That’s not enough."
"I think we can get some bonus money for you from the city for helping us relocate." "How much?"
"I don’t know. I’ll try to find out."
"We’ll have to see how much it is, but don’t count on anything." Peter took a deep breath. "You’ll save a fortune if I don’t take you to court."
The landlord looked at him for a minute, measuring his resolve. "All right. I’ll review my buildings this weekend and let you know what I can do on Monday."
"I appreciate your effort. Please remember that I’ve put off initiating a lawsuit so far, against my lawyer’s advice. He wants to request the district attorney to file felony charges, while he starts a civil suit."
"I got lawyers I pay plenty to deal with that stuff. They go to court for me whenever I want."
"I understand that, but did they tell you what the penalty is if you’re convicted of arson?"
"I didn’t commit no arson."
"I think we’d both be better off if we didn’t leave that to a jury to decide."
"Maybe you’re right. I see what I can do."
"Thanks. I appreciate that. Don’t forget about Monday. We want to get out of that hotel as soon as possible."
Peter went back to work feeling that he had accomplished something. That good feeling lasted until he got home, when Beth told him what happened that afternoon, "Kiesha and I were coming back from the supermarket, while Miss Lily was watching the kids. We got out of the elevator and two black men were waiting in the hall. They walked towards us menacingly and we backed up towards our rooms. One of them said, ‘If you keep messin’ with the brothers, you gonna get fucked up.’ Then they turned and went upstairs."
"What did you do?"
"Once I stopped shaking, I called the police. They said they’d send a car, if one was available, but not to count on it, since the incident was over, and no one was hurt."
"That’s a lot of help. What did Kiesha do?"
"She was as scared as I was and didn’t say anything."
"I’m glad. If she confronted them, they might have hurt you."
"What are we going to do?"
"Could you identify them?"
"I doubt it. You know how dim the light in the hall is."
"We’ll just have to keep a low profile until we can get out of here."
During the next few days either Peter or Hector accompanied the women when they went out. Beth thought it was reassuring, but somewhat of an illusion of safety, since she knew the gang members had guns and were very dangerous. Even though the police never showed up, the group tried to go through their regular weekend routine, albeit carefully. The children sensed the heightened tension, without understanding what was going on. They reacted with loud, wild play that irritated the jittery adults, who snapped at them. The children sulked, unaccustomed to short tempers from the adults, who normally treated them so patiently. Miss Lily finally sat the children down in her room and told them the grown-ups were having some problems and they needed the children to play quietly.
Pablo, with his usual perception, asked, "Do we have to move again?"
"Only if we go to a better place, chile."
"We didn’t do anything wrong, Miss Lily. Did we?"
"No, chile. You kids have been real good. We’re all very proud of you."
By Sunday evening things were nearly back to hotel normal, although sub-surface tensions periodically erupted. The adults were feeling badly about how their situation was affecting the children and decided on a special treat; dinner at a restaurant. They gave the children a choice of Chinese or Italian food, but the ravenous youths requested McDonalds. After several attempts at persuasion for other fare were rebuffed, the group set out for the fast food mecca. At least it turned out to be an inexpensive meal, since they still had vouchers left that paid for almost everything. When the children were sufficiently stuffed with basic American cuisine, they took them to a Baskin-Robbins on 29th Street and bought a sundae for each child. The clerk was hard pressed to satisfy the demanding young customers, but soon they all had their concoction of choice. They slurped away happily, except for one disastrous spill of Shasta’s, which produced tears and required a replacement. They went back to the hotel
with very happy children, which made the adults feel temporarily satisfied, despite their problems.
Peter spoke to the landlord Monday morning and was offered two apartments, which he rejected. "There are four families. We need four apartments. Anything else is unacceptable."
"That’s the best I can do, Mr. Harmon. I can’t afford more than two."
Peter realized that they were negotiating and tried to be persuasive, "If you give us four apartments, you’ll be getting some very reliable tenants."
"Four apartments will cost me a fortune."
"It could cost you a fortune if this becomes a legal matter." There was a lengthy silence as the landlord considered his options. Peter just waited patiently, without saying a word, despite his desperate need to get out of the hotel.
Finally, the landlord broke the silence. "I tell you what. I got three empty apartments in a building on East 11th Street. They were scheduled for renovation in a few months, but that could wait. You go see them. If you get that bonus money, we got a deal."
"What if I take my old apartment and my friends take the other three?"
"No way. The lease is up on your apartment at the same time your sublet is over. That apartment’s going to be renovated."
Peter went back to work feeling he had made considerable progress but frustrated that the landlord wouldn’t offer a fourth apartment. He was afraid that it was the final offer. That evening he told the group where things stood. "He offered three apartments and that’s it. Unless someone has a better idea, Beth and I will take one of the apartments and we can have a lottery for the other two." The thought of leaving one family behind was disturbing, but Peter had wracked his brain for an alternative and couldn’t come up with anything.
Each of them considered the situation for a few moments and Miss Lily finally spoke, "All of you took care of my kids and got us out of the E.A.U. It’s only fair that you take the apartments. Me and my kids’ll stay here. We’ll manage."
Beth burst out with, "No, Miss Lily. You mean too much to us. We’ll find another way."
"That’s sweet of you, chile, but I can’t be a burden on you." Before Beth could reply,
Hector said, "I think I may have a solution."
Everyone looked at him and Peter asked, "What is it?"
Hector looked at Kiesha, who nodded encouragingly, "Maybe Kiesha and I can share an apartment."
There was a lengthy silence while the implications of that statement sunk in. Then Beth turned to Kiesha and hugged her, "I’m so happy for you. I couldn’t picture a better couple together."
Miss Lily hugged Kiesha and the women chirped about women things.
Peter shook Hector’s hand, "That’s wonderful. If the apartment is large enough this could solve all our problems."
The manly ritual concluded, and Beth took charge, "We should go see the apartments tomorrow evening. Can you arrange it, Peter?"
"Sure. If the apartments are half decent, we should take them immediately and get out of here."
"I’ll get Ms. Cummins to call the landlord and work out the bonus money with him."
"Great. That’ll be a big help." Kiesha expressed a concern, "We don’t have any furniture. How will we manage?"
"Easily," Beth said. "We’ll get what we need at the thrift store, piece by piece. We’ll start with mattresses and kitchen stuff and work our way up from there. It may take a while, but we’ll be all right."
"Chile. You bring joy to this old heart," Miss Lily said.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Tuesday morning Peter talked to the landlord and arranged to see the apartments that evening. He didn’t indicate that the offer of three apartments might be acceptable but said they could talk further once he saw the apartments. After dinner, the group took the bus on Park Avenue South to 11th Street and walked east to Avenue C until they reached the old tenement building. They found the super, who lived in the basement, and he gave them the keys. The vacant apartments were on the third floor; two in the front, one in the back. The other tenant on the floor was an old Ukranian woman who had lived in the building all her life. According to the super she had a dozen cats and they ate better than she did. They inspected the apartments, which were in slightly better shape than the hotel rooms and concluded that with a fresh coat of paint and a rigorous cleaning they would be inhabitable. The apartment in the back was the largest and they decided it was big enough for Kiesha and Hector. They made a list of all the problems that needed correcting, the only serious one was a non-working refrigerator in Miss Lily’s place and left it up to Peter to finalize the deal with the landlord.
They took the Third Avenue bus uptown and when they got off at 29th Street the children saw the Baskin-Robbins across the street and clamored for ice cream. At first the adults refused, reminding the children that they had giant sundaes just the night before. Then Pablo reminded them how well the children had been behaving and the parents relented, only stipulating small cones this time. They got back to the hotel in a cheerful mood and found that someone had urinated all over the floor in front of their doors. The stench was awful and Peter knocked on Ephraim’s door to try to find out what happened. There was no answer at first, then a faint voice asked, "Who?"
"It’s me, Peter. What happened out here?"
"Someone pissed in the hall. I heard a noise and opened my door to see what was happenin’ and someone said, ‘Get back in there, old man, or you’ll get hurt.’ I didn’t have much choice."
"I’m going to complain to Mister Singh."
"Won’t do any good."
"At least I can get him to clean this mess."
Peter went downstairs, while the adults and the children waited on the other side of the hall. When Mister Singh saw him he picked up the phone and started to talk loudly in Hindi. Peter couldn’t tell whether the conversation was real or make believe and waited with growing impatience while Mister Singh ignored him.
Two minutes went by and Peter finally said, "Excuse me," which got Mister Singh’s attention. "We have a problem upstairs."
Mister Singh looked at him with contemptuous indifference, then hung up the phone. "What is it?"
"Someone urinated all over the floor upstairs."
"Yes?"
"Can you get someone to clean it?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"Cleaning service comes only once a week, on Thursday."
"What are we supposed to do about it?"
"I can give you cleaning supplies and disinfectant."
"You expect us to clean it?"
"I do not have cleaning person. You want it clean I’ll give you supplies. Otherwise I cannot help."
Peter borrowed a mop, filled a bucket with water and disinfectant and went upstairs. He had silently cursed all the Singh clones when he was requested to return the supplies. Kiesha mopped the floor and Beth followed her, pouring out industrial strength disinfectant when she was done.
Hector returned the supplies to Mister Singh, who just stared at him blankly when he asked, "Can you find out who’s doing this? It’s not right that they’re pissing on the floor like animals."
"I do not know what happens upstairs. Since you and your friends arrived, there is much disturbance. I must request you not to cause trouble."
Hector got annoyed, "Are you saying we’re causing these problems?"
"I do not know. I can only repeat my request. Do not disrupt other tenants, or you will be asked to leave."
Hector took a deep breath and managed to control his impulse to reach through the little portal in the Plexiglas security barrier and throttle the aggravating creature.
Peter assured the group that he would try his best to get them out of the hotel in the next few days. They said goodnight, but long after the disinfectant dried the hallway stank of old and new odors, and whiffs of it seeped through their doors. Beth and Peter discussed their situation for several hours. Peter outlined his plan, which was to finalize the deal for the three apartments with the la
ndlord, make an appointment to sign leases and arrange to move in as soon as possible. As soon as he had the keys to the new apartments, he would rent a small van, if they couldn’t easily take their belongings in a taxi and move all their possessions from the hotel. Beth said she was going to work with Ms. Cummins to apply for food stamps and for federal vouchers that would supplement their rent payments. Her next effort would be to get whatever they needed to make their apartment functional, and help their friends do the same. They went to bed with the feeling that things were going to work out for them. The children were sleeping so soundly that when Beth put her hand on Mister Clinton, they were able to make love without even going into the bathroom.
Peter called the landlord in the morning and told him they would accept the deal and they wanted to sign the leases right away. The landlord sensed his urgency and tried to delay a meeting, but Peter insisted, and they agreed to meet at the landlord’s office on Thursday, at 6:00 p.m. It started to snow Thursday morning and by late afternoon it had developed into a severe snowstorm.
Peter phoned Beth before he left work and asked her if he should postpone the meeting.
"Absolutely not. Ms. Cummins spoke to him and the sooner we sign a lease, the faster we get out of here."
"Will you be able to manage with the kids?"
"Sure. I’ll just tell them we’re practicing preparing to go drilling for oil in Alaska."
Peter smiled. "As long as you don’t get lost on the trail." Peter and the group met promptly at the landlord’s office at six o’clock, despite travel difficulties, but he kept them waiting while he talked to someone on the phone about a big deal he was about to pull off.
