The Repo Man Cometh

I would like to on record here: I don't believe Ms. Shirley ever mailed the rent. Generally, tenants who really have missing rent checks are a lot more freaked out about lost money. Ms. Shirley never broke a sweat. Just in case you thought for a moment I believed her. Nope. I think when push came to shove, she decided it was too cold to live in a carboard box under the Interstate.

But, if we could fast-forward to Wednesday... I finally agreed to let Ms. Shirley put December's rent in my bank account. I did it for two reasons. First, it appeared she already had my bank account number (apparently given to her by me in a happier time).

Second, Ms. Shirley was refusing to mail me a check. According to her, the post office failed her. I did (hopefully) politely explain that of all my rentals, it seems only her post office was having delivery issues, and perhaps she could try a different post office. Ms. Shirley completely bypassed the obvious, wanting to save face, and just stood her ground. She wasn't mailing.

The only other area that I was pretty sure she and I had made some clarity with Ms. Shirley was about future rent payments. To Ms. Shirley's credit, she offered to pay on time from this point forward. At least for January. And, I was willing to believe her until Wednesday night.

Please excuse me while I take a quick moment to face Alabama and send out warm wishes to my dear neighbor, handyman and general overall great guy, Mr. 114.

I must tell you, having Mr. 114 as a next door neighbor to this home has been one of the best assets money hasn't bought. You see, along with being all of the above, Mr. 114 is also quite happy to pass along bits and pieces of relevant neighborhood information. Some might consider it gossip. I think of it of protecting my investment.

Without Mr. 114, I would never have found out that Ms. Shirley has a live-in boyfriend (which I have known for more than a year). The boyfriend was in a car wreck last year and hasn't been working since--which is about when her money trouble started. I also wouldn't know that there has been a repo man hanging outside of Mr. 114's house for the past three days, waiting for Ms. Shirley to drive off in her pretty red car so he can follow in hot pursuit.

This last piece of information has led me to believe that 1) Ms. Shirley will soon not have to worry about her car payment or 2) Ms. Shirley will move out in the middle of the night because she wants to keep her car. Mr. 114 and I pondered this Wednesday night. My money is on moving out in the middle of the night. Mr. 114 was non-committal, uttered something along the lines of, "bless her heart" and offered to keep me posted.

At any rate, sadly, I am guessing I probably didn't put the fear of eviction in Ms. Shirley. And, she and I will be playing the "were the heck is the rent game" again in a few weeks.