Free In the Shade of the Monkey Puzzle Tree by Sara Alexi

shoes off, and forget about job hunting for the day. Maybe she keeps things behind the other locked door, and she is in there rummaging about, her beads rattling and being torn off as they catch on things.
    The cat appears.
    ‘ Hello, cat. Is the witch about?’ he says softly and bends to stroke it. He pushes the gate further open and looks up. The door to his rooms is open, too. The hairs on the back of his neck bristle.
    ‘ Hello?’ He bends as usual down the steps so as not to bang his head on the door frame and then stands tall again in the room, which is empty.
    ‘ Hello?’ he says again.
    ‘ I knew you were trouble.’ The old woman comes from the corridor to his kitchen and bathroom. ‘Well I won’t stand for it. Out. Go on; I want you out.’
    ‘ What?’ Fatigue forgotten, wide-eyed, Theo looks around the room for some clue as to why the old woman is so upset.
    ‘ And a cat I see!’ She hisses, chasing the animal out of the door. ‘Go on, follow the beast, you don’t live here anymore.’
    ‘ I’m sorry; what’s the problem?’ Theo roots himself to the spot.
    ‘ As if you didn’t know. You are keeping a cat when I clearly stated no pets, and the bathroom ceiling has mould all over it. It is slovenly and bad for the building. I clearly said in the contract that the property was to be maintained in the order it was given you …’
    ‘ Lady, the bathroom had mould in the corners when I took on the rooms, just five days ago.’
    ‘ Seven,’ she barks as she takes hold of his sleeve and begins to pull. ‘Out!’
    ‘ You cannot chuck me out. I have paid this week’s rent and you have two weeks in advance, not to mention the two week’s money for damages.’ Theo frees himself from her grasp to get a look at the bathroom ceiling. The mould has spread some distance from the corner, but it was inevitable. In a shower room in the basement, what does she expect?
    ‘ If you don’t leave, I will call the police.’
    ‘ We have a contract.’ Theo is confident he is right and that she will get no joy from the police.
    ‘ You have broken the contract. You have not maintained the property and you are keeping animals.’
    ‘ It is a stray cat, it’s not mine, and the property was mouldy in the bathroom when I took it on.’
    ‘ That’s not what you signed.’ Her voice is growing louder and high pitched. ‘You agreed the property was in perfect condition.’
    ‘ Look, if I have caused damage to the property, which I haven’t, take it out of the money I gave you for damages or let me make the ceiling right. A damp cloth will just wipe the mould away.’ He makes a move to go through to the sink in the kitchen-come-bedroom to get a wet cloth. She bars his way.
    ‘ Out.’ Her voice is shrill.
    ‘ No. We have a contract.’ Theo folds his arms. He can feel his heart beating, pumping against his rib cage. The woman must be mad. The cat has come back in and winds around his legs.
    Her steely gaze settles on him. ‘What contract?’ The words quiet and low as she walks to the door and removes Theo’s keys, slipping the loop of cord around her neck, tucking the keys down her beaded shift dress.
    ‘ Oh come on,’ Theo implores, his arms unfolding, palms upwards. This has all gone far enough.
    ‘ You want to show me this contract?’ she asks, her thin lips in a sneer, the anticipation of her victory.
    ‘ What are you saying? You spent an hour writing it out. You were making me a copy.’ Theo can hear the panic, the anger, and the fear in his own voice. The situation is unreal. Her logic defies all reason. His situation is suddenly unstable.
    ‘ With no contract, you have no right to be here. That makes you a trespasser. I am going to call the police.’ Her back is stiff. She wears the same beaded dress as when he first saw her, shimmering black, the beads clicking together as she moves. If the man in the white dressing gown was king of cockroaches, then this is his queen.
    ‘ But I have paid