Carolsue was scheduled to hold the Leeds home open on Sunday afternoon. Instead, I got a snippy phone call from the Audrey woman asking why the home wasn't open. Audrey completely ignored my astonishment of Carolsue not being there and sighed heavily about how she had been inconvenienced.
When I explained to Audrey I was so sorry Carolsue wasn't there. And would it be too much trouble for her to come back in an hour. Meanwhile, I began to panic.
You see, Carolsue is efficient and reliable. If she wasn't at the open house she was stranded on the side of the road or she was dead somewhere. I didn't see any other options. First, it isn't like her to flake. And second, well, there is no second. She didn't forget the open house. Because she lives alone, I had other concerns that if something happened to her nobody might find out right away. At any rate, normally level-headed me went into full Carolsue search mode.
An hour later, after I had tried Carolsue's home number in vain a few more times Audrey called back, again asking why the home still wasn't open. Again still not seeing this as an issue, I explained I was very motivated to rent the house out and I am happy to consider her, but the person who was supposed to show it is MISSING--most likely with car trouble. However, could Audrey please constitute this a minor emergency and could her issue kindly take a back seat to a missing person??? Audrey begrudgingly acquiesced.
Meanwhile, through the miracle of Facebook, I located Carolsue's daughter to see if she knew what happened to her. I also tried the cell number I had for Carolsue's son-in-law. Sadly, they were not available. Baseball Guy and Nephew Jon are currently in Texas, so calling them seemed to be a moot point. And, I toyed for a moment of calling my tenant Angie and asking her to swing by Carolsue's home and see if Carolsue was there and breathing. But, I decided not to. Finally, I called the Birmingham police and asked them to drive by and see if she was home--and more importantly--alive.
Poor Carolsue. Her car broke down about a mile from the Leeds house. Without a cell phone or a way to contact anyone, she was stuck until a sweet tow truck driver gave her and her car a ride home (She happens to be the only human being on Earth without a cell phone. And I mean that. Even my 36-year-old brother who shuns every invention created in the past 20 years as a fad, finally got a cell phone). Though I am sorry her car broke down, I was relieved she was breathing.
When she called me, she apologized for not holding the house open. Like I explained to her, I can always get more potential tenants. I can't get another Carolsue.
Monday, October 19, 2009
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Awww. I remember that day as if it were just last week. The absolute highlight (actually the only highlight)of that day was when that young and extremely handsome policeman knocked on my door to check on me. For a second I thought someone had sent me a stripper gram. Thanks Fiona - you are a true blue friend and I adore you!!!
Post a Comment