Gotta Write

As promised, I’ll periodically post some of the story I’m working on so you can tell that I’m actually getting some stuff done.  Here is a blurb:

     He walked up to me and put his arm around my shoulder.  “I have a delightful studio apartment that faces the pool!” he exclaimed and ushered me out of the office.  He hopped into a golf cart and motioned for me to join him.  “Are you looking to rent right away?” he asked, starting the golf cart up and zooming us along the path.

     “I’ll move in tonight if it’s available,” I muttered.

     “Delightful!” he said a little too loudly, and then started whistling.

     I decided right then and there that if I had to rent a tiny apartment that this was the guy I wanted to rent it from.  After all, I only knew of one other man who would dare use the word delightful in a sentence, but no man I knew would dare use it twice in a conversation.  This guy was downright eccentric, and he would prove to be a nice distraction from the painful process of renting an apartment in anticipation of leaving my husband that night.

     He slowed the cart down for a speed bump.  “We have two options: a furnished and an unfurnished studio.”

     “Furnished,” I replied.

     “Fantastic!” he said, and then started whistling again.

     It was uncanny how much this guy reminded me of Tim.  I wondered how Tim would react when he found out that I was out getting an apartment.

     “Here we are,” announced the manager, slowing the golf cart to a stop.  He hopped out and then bounded up the stairs to the second level.  I followed him up and waited while he found the right key for the door.  “If you don’t like the furniture in this apartment I have some other pieces in storage,” he said, “but I personally think this apartment is decorated quite nicely.”  He found the key, unlocked the door, and then gave me a look as if to say Are you ready to see the most delightful apartment you’ve ever seen?  I replied with a look that said Seriously, let’s just get this over with, so he opened the door and we stepped inside.

     The apartment was cute.  Maybe not delightful, but it was cute in an abbreviated way.  There wasn’t much room, but I didn’t plan on spending a great deal of time there except to sleep so I didn’t care if there wasn’t a ton of room.  When I saw the little kitchen I immediately thought to myself that I would eat frozen waffles there to my heart’s content – Thomas hated frozen waffles and insisted that we never buy them even though I loved them– and at that moment I was sold.

     “Looks good,” I said.

     The manager perked up even further.  “So we’ll take it?” he asked.

     Usually I hated when people referred to singular decisions in a plural sense (”How are we feeling today?” “What do we think?”) but this guy pulled it off beautifully.  “Yes,” I said, “we’ll take it.”

     The manager clapped, and then of course said “Delightful!” I couldn’t help but laugh, and then took a deep breath.  I had dreamt of this moment for so long, but I never imagined that such a colorful person would usher me into my final decision.  It was perfect.

     “Let’s go back to the office and fill out some paperwork,” he said, opening the door.  Then he got a mischievous glint in his eyes and in a lowered voice said, “Do you want to drive the golf cart back?” He dangled the absurd collection of keys in front of me, daring me to grab them.

     “Yes,” I said, snatching the keys out of his hand, “I do believe I will drive the golf cart.  That would be delightful.”

     As I drove the golf cart back to the office I hummed Born to be Wild.  It was the most fun I’d had in a while.

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