Free Believe Like a Child by Paige Dearth Page B

seedy. Alessa noticed that several of the houses were boarded up with plywood, while others appeared to be lived in. They were old row homes that stood three stories high. Trash lay piled on the streets and everywhere she looked, there were teenagers hanging out on corners. Alessa started to feel a little uneasy when the taxi driver turned to her for his fare. She asked him if he could wait for her and he agreed, but told her if she took longer than fifteen minutes, he would be gone.
    The groups of teenagers were already staring at the taxi, watching to see who would get out. As she stepped out onto the curb and looked at the house that could be her new home, she caught sight of an old woman peering through a ripped curtain in the first-floor window. She climbed the four broken cement steps to the wooden porch which was rotting and felt like it was going to give way beneath her feet. Then she knocked softly on the door. She knew the woman had seen her arrive and now she quickly threw open the door.
    “Hi, I’m Alessa. I called about the apartment,” Alessa told her cheerfully.
    “I’m Lea, the owner and the landlady. Come on in. The apartment is on the second floor, third door to the left.”
    Alessa went up to the next level of the house with the old woman trailing behind her. When she got to the third door, she noticed what was written in black marker on the wall next to it: Apartment 2C. The woman unlocked the door and Alessa stepped into a small room. About ten feet into the room, there was a kitchen sink mounted on the wall, with three cabinets hanging over it. To the right of the sink was a small refrigerator. Against the far wall stood a rectangular metal table flanked by two wooden chairs. Alessa’s stomach dropped when she stepped up to the sink and saw the filth inside it. There were half-empty soup cans and some water-logged Cheerios floating around the bottom in a quarter-inch of dirty brown water.
    When she opened the refrigerator, the handle came off. The old woman told her it could be easily fixed. Food had spilled inside the refrigerator. There was something round and moldy on the top shelf. It smelled like the corpse of a small animal left there to die. A single naked light bulb hung from the middle of the ceiling, casting a glow around the room that resembled horror-movie lighting.
    Alessa stepped through the door that stood between the refrigerator and the kitchen table, into a small bedroom with a single bed. The mattress was worn and stained. The walls were painted gray. Across from the bed was a four-drawer dresser standing against the wall. The bedroom floor was linoleum throughout and looked like it hadn’t been cleaned since the house was built. A curtain strung between two nails hung over another doorway off the bedroom. When Alessa walked through, she saw a toilet that had rings of black inside and a tub that was overrun by mold and mildew.
    The apartment was a slum, an absolutely disgusting mess, but Alessa figured it was the best she could do for 300 dollars a month.
    She turned to Lea. “It’s kind of dirty and it needs some work.”
    The old woman was defiant. “Listen,” she said, “it doesn’t look like you’re in a position to be too picky. Either you want it or you don’t. If you want it, I need 900 dollars. That’s 300 for security, 300 for last month’s rent and 300 for first month’s rent. Let me know what you want to do.”
    Alessa stared at Lea and realized that she was not as old as she had first assumed. She stood five foot tall and had a rounded body. She was missing several teeth and those that had survived were rotting. Alessa could smell the stench of her breath, even from three feet away. Lea’s housecoat was stained with food and on her feet were old, ripped slippers. Alessa suddenly remembered Rhonda and a smile hovered on her lips as she thought of the things her friend would have said about Lea’s appearance. She could hear her say, “Look at that old bat.