The Landlord's Game of Control

wide, greasy smile tha

he shoulder. "A loose cabinet door? I'll have my guy up there t

ve me, grinned back. "Thanks,

happy," Henderson said loudl

h twisting. I had been waiting ten minutes for him to finish his friend

anished. He turned to me, and his face s

it now,

"It's still not working, and now there's a strange smell coming from the v

ggerated sound of a ma

. These things take time. It's not

And the smell is new. It's making m

fed, waving a

e, a draft. It's an old building, what do you expect? If you w

ed to wa

r is seventy-two. She has a respiratory condition. She

turned back, hi

problem. Maybe you should have thought of that befo

d shut the door. The sound echoed in the empty

rtment with a small electric space heater, but it was a losing battle again

here," she said, pulling her car

d to be fixing the heat," I lied, not

n the living room. I kept the kitchen window cracked open, hoping to air o

my mother on the couch,

urmured, her words slurring sli

I touched her forehead, it was clamm

an you hear

t moane

ulance. While I waited, I ran to the hal

te to open it, and he w

r, what is it now? It'

s sick. I think it's the smell from the vents. I think it's

o concern, only annoyance. He

gas leak? You're being hyste

checked it!" I yelled, my control

aughed, a sho

p. Or maybe she's faking it to get some

d down, a smirk pl

s is some kind of scheme to get a discount on your rent.

ysical blow. I couldn't even form a respo

your family dramas. The city inspector was here six months ago, everything's up to code.

he door i

ding. I remembered Maria from 3B telling me how Henderson took a month to fix her flooding toilet, but fixed the leaky faucet for the single man in 3A the same day she reported

to him, hysterical women w

reading of the air. One of them looked at his

oice urgent. "The CO levels are off the ch

er's bedroom wider to air the place out, but the old wooden frame was swollen and stuck fast. I pulled and pulled, my f