Chairs

by

Fay Ulanoff

††††††††††† Terrance Nebly slid open the glass door to his back yard in order to have a bit of solitude.

††††††††††† He moved one chair close to the other to rest his feet from the day.

The chairs were comfortable enough to accommodate his big bottom, if he could just settle in and wrap his mind around his plan for the rest of the afternoon, or would he have to tend to his responsibility of the key keeper to the apartments he rented so quickly to those hasty people on welfare, or maybe go with his passion, and pen the Great American Novel

††††††††††† All was quiet, as he escaped the sun by closing his eyes behind a large pair of goggle eyed sunglasses.

††††††††††† The moment was his and his alone, but his stomach felt empty.

††††††††††† Lunch time had passed him by while he munched down on a dark chocolate candy bar, worrying with every bite. Would there be enough time to rinse his teeth from the ever threatening twenty minute limit before tooth decay.† Because experts have said that if you donít brush your teeth, or at least pass water over them, you will be doomed. And Terrance Nebly felt harried and feared he might become a toothless wonder and not be able to pay the exorbitant costs of a dentist worth receiving it.

††††††††††† His thoughts were interrupted by a woman and her young son walking around his back patio requesting the key to their new apartment.†

††††††††††† Terrance pushed his way up from his comfy chair and told them to wait there for a moment until he returned to his own lodging to get it.

††††††††††† He shuffled in his slippers through the door and glanced back to the two chairs heíd left vacant in the yard, that were, just a moment before, his refuge, were now inhabited by these strangerís bottoms.

††††††††††† Well thatís just great, he thought as he retrieved the keys which were hanging on a big brown wooden board in his kitchen.

††††††††††† Oh, here they are.† Iím glad that didnít take to long because you never know who you can trust in these desperate times, especially people such as those two, who are already needy and down on their luck.

††††††††††† The woman smiled as she stood up, pulled her boy to his feet. ìThank you so much.† This really means a lot to us.† I mean getting in our apartment early, what with my ex boyfriend out on bail and him chasing me from one place to the other.î

††††††††††††Now Iíll really†have something to worry about.† I wish I had rented the apartment to the retired nurse, on Social Security and a pension. At least that was a fixed income.† But I assumed that someone on the dole would be a guaranteed.† Well I suppose Iíll just have to keep an eye on them, because if anything happens, this complex could get a bad name.† Then my free-lance days as a writer would be over and I along with my new tenants would be, without a place to live and me minus an income.

††††††††††† Well I better show these two to their new front door and get back to my chairs, then figure out what to do for the rest of the day, because this decision might be a life changer.

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