Games, Games, Games

For those of you who are familiar with the Peanuts cartoon, you might remember Lucy promising to hold the football still for Charlie Brown and moving it out of his way at the last second, making Charlie Brown fall smack down on his rear.

That is parallel to Ms. Kathy and I. When I sent her an eviction notice, she came back, promising me rent instead of moving--an option available. Today I got a note from her asking her if it was "ok" if she didn't pay me what she owed.

For those of you scratching your head trying to figure out why I have been playing this game with Ms. Kathy, it is because it is cheaper to keep Ms. Kathy than evict her. That is, if she pays the rent. Which she generally does. Simply put: it is a business decision.

But there comes a point where enough is enough. There is no amount of coaxing, cajoling or threatening that can make her pay her bills on time. Business decision or not, I don't want to live this way. My stress level is high enough without this game.

Of course, because I played along, I am one month behind. I will probably have a vacant home through the holidays. That's the price I will pay for playing with Ms. Kathy.