Chapter 29
It was one of the most mind-numbing, soul-crushing experiences Solf had ever gone through without being in the company of his father. They had been at this for two days. They went from one shabby, cracker box apartment complex to another, skirting around other people's animals, children, family drama, breakup scenes, and cooking smells. The list got shorter and shorter and the possibilities got thinner and thinner. Yes, of course he was being overly particular. He was looking for a new living space that wasn't next door to hell.
Danika kept up a patient, cheerful optimism, but by early Sunday evening, even this was beginning to lose its shine. She stopped remarking that she thought this or that place "wasn't so bad." After taking a look at the Bel Air apartments (luxury living, exercise room, lap pool, minutes from prime shopping areas, if you lived here you'd be home by now) and leaving with yet another property manager's card and promising to come back for another look (not really), they got back in the car.
Danika checked the note pad on her phone with a sigh. "That was the last one," she announced. She sent him a cautiously worried glance. "I could start looking for more."
He almost said no. As much as he wanted to just leave it to Danika to go through the effort of finding these places, her choices had been less than ideal. Obviously her ideal wasn't the same as his. He would just have to grit his teeth and start searching himself.
"Yeah, I guess that's what we're going to have to do," he sighed, as much to answer her remark as to resolving his own thoughts, which contradicted each other, but this was coming from a crushed soul and a numbed mind. "Right now I just want to go home." He smirked mirthlessly. "While I can still call it that."
Danika nodded, knowing when she was beaten. They had gone pretty far afield in their search. Solf couldn't even recall ever seeing some of these neighborhoods before. They drove down Stanihurst Avenue, both of them silent, nursing their own thoughts. They came to a stop behind a line of cars waiting at a red light. The SUV in front of them had those stick figure family decals on the back window, boasting of three kids, two dogs, a cat, a turtle, and four fish. Solf didn't really want to know that about them and he resented having to be behind them.
"Papa! Stop!"
Solf flinched in his seat and glanced quickly around in alarm. "What? Why? I am stopped! What's the matter?"
Danika was plastered against her window, stabbing the glass with her finger. "Can we park here? Please! I want to look at this place!"
She sounded like her life depended on it. Solf peered past her through the window. He saw a block wall with lush mounds of ivy falling over the top. Behind the ivy was a thicket of dark green bushes and trees with fall foliage. A section of the ivy on the wall had been neatly trimmed to reveal a rectangle of glazed tiles, across which was painted the name Pleasaunce Apartments. Next to this was a wrought iron gate backed by a thin layer of painted plywood so that what was beyond the wall was not visible from the street. Over the gate was an archway covered in ivy. On the gate itself was a printed sign with lettering that was too small to read from where they were.
Solf wasn't sure what to think. You couldn't really see over all that vegetation from where he was sitting. But for it to be that lush, the place must be old. He didn't like old.
"Papa, please!" Danika begged. "We can look at this one and then I promise that'll be it for today!"
She was so worked up about this that he couldn't bear to say no. Actually, what he couldn't bear was the brave, pathetic, fake cheerful front she would put on to hide her disappointment. "Okay, fine," he sighed wearily. "We can take a quick look and then we're outta there."
As soon as the traffic started to move, he eased out of it and parked at the curb. They got out of the car and went up to the gate. The sign posted on the gate informed the reader in tasteful lettering that solicitors were not welcome and that rental inquiries were by appointment only. A telephone number was listed below.
On the one hand, that sounded pretty exclusive. It also meant that they could go home now. "Looks like we'll have to give them a call first, kiddo," Solf said.
Danika was undeterred. "We can look around, anyway. Nobody would mind that. Maybe we can make an appointment while we're here."
To Solf's horror and before he could stop her, Danika turned the handle on the right side gate and pushed it open. Solf hung back while she went in, waiting for someone to start yelling at her, but all he heard was a gasp of wonder. He peered around the edge of the gate at what was beyond.
Behind a small brick patio, flanked on either side by the thick foliage that was visible from the street, was a two-story building made of weathered concrete blocks. Red clay tiles edged the roof. Straight across from the gate was an arched entryway, almost like a tunnel. At the other end of this tunnel was a larger patio with more greenery and a fountain.
Danika dove on through the entryway with Solf following her nervously. "I really don't think we should just be plowing in here."
"It didn't say we couldn't," Danika replied readily.
That was the sort of logic that got people in trouble. He was almost tempted to physically tackle the girl and carry her back to the car, but by now she had stepped out into a center courtyard. Danika stood in one spot, turning and gazing around her with a look of growing delight on her face. Even Solf had to stop and look around for a few moments. The place reminded him of a bed-and-breakfast he'd stayed an on the Donbachi coast. He remembered that place very fondly. The red bricks of the patio were laid out in a curving basket weave pattern, radiating out from the fountain, which sat in the middle. Shrubbery and slender trees were arranged in small plots around the patio. The soft grey of the block walls contrasted with the dusty red of the tile roof, and the window frames were trimmed in a sage green and surrounded by wrought iron. There were other arched entryways like the one they had come through, two leading off to either side of the complex, if it could be called that, and one across from the front entry, leading to the back, presumably. In one corner was a sort of round tower with a small balcony off a set of double doors.
Danika put her fists up to her mouth and drew in an excited breath. "It's so beautiful!" she practically squealed.
"It's…different," Solf said, reluctant to quite agree just yet. He listened carefully for living noises. He could hear some faint music coming from one of the apartments. Some soft jazz, from what he could tell. He inhaled through his nose. Somebody was cooking something, but, it wasn't an unpleasant smell, really, and he realized that he was getting hungry. There were some quiet voices, just normal conversation. It wasn't a big place, so there probably weren't that many people living here. Solf didn't want to admit to himself that the place was passing so many of his tests. It was, after all, really old looking. Not beat-up or run-down old. Definitely well-maintained old, but it was still old.
Solf walked around slowly, wondering if there was an office somewhere. He heard approaching footsteps that were too heavy to be Danika's, and he felt a momentary panic of being caught someplace he perhaps should not be. But as Danika pointed out, the sign out front did not say they couldn't come in and look. That would be his story. He summoned up his courage and turned toward the rear entryway where the footsteps were coming from.
Then he froze. Stepping out into the patio, some books under his arm, was Andakar Ruhad. What's more, and what chilled Solf to the bone, was the fact that he walked in like he lived here. The Ishvalan looked up and saw Solf about the same time and they stared at each other in growing disbelief and suspicion.
"Zhaarad Ruhad!" Danika called out in delight. "Do you live here?"
Oh hell to the no! Solf thought with a straight-into-quicksand-no-help-on-the-way-kiss-your-ass-good-bye feeling.
Thankfully, Andakar withdrew that piercing red-eye glare off Solf and turned a much gentler look in Danika's direction. "Yes, I do," he said. He glanced back at Solf for a moment then back to the girl. "What brings you here?"
"We're looking for a new apartment!" Danika announced.
Whatever reaction Andakar had to this, he kept it pretty well hidden. With one more glance cast toward Solf, Andakar gave a nod. "I see." He considered Danika. "I think you need to make an appointment. The owners are very particular."
They're obviously not that particular, Solf thought somewhat childishly. "We were just looking around. Danika wanted to check the place out."
"I love it here!" Danika gushed. "It's so pretty and old-fashioned!"
"It is," Andakar agreed. "It was built in 1928."
"Are you serious?" Solf practically blurted out. "It's almost a hundred years old!"
He was sure a snide remark was passing through the Ishvalan's mind just then, something along the lines of congratulations, you can add!
Danika stepped up to Andakar, a wistful look on her face. "Do you know if there's a vacancy?"
Please, no, please, no!
"Actually, I think there is," Andakar replied. "I don't know if anyone's looked at it yet."
Danika practically jumped up and down. "Oh! Oh! How do we make an appointment? Is there a phone number? Is there someone we can talk to right now?"
Solf had never seen Danika this excited about anything. Andakar must have thought it was real cute because he actually smiled a little. He looked back and forth at the two of them, his smile slipping just a little when he looked at Solf. Then he began to head off toward the tower thing in the corner of the complex. He gestured for them to follow him. "The office isn't actually open right now, but the managers might be willing to talk to you."
Danika clapped her hands and hurried after the Ishvalan. Solf followed a bit more slowly. Most of his instincts were telling him to run. The others were telling him not to back down in front of the man he considered one of his nemeses, assuming you could have more than one. His father was pretty much at the top of that particular list.
Andakar went under yet another arch to a covered walkway that ended in a dark oak door. A ceramic plaque on the door proclaimed it to be the office. Andakar rang the bell. After a few moments the door opened, revealing one of the largest men Solf had ever seen. He might even be a little bigger than Alex Armstrong. He had a dark beard and dark, forbidding eyes. Solf nearly turned around right then.
But the man rumbled a greeting. "Hey, man," he said to Andakar. "What's up?"
"I'm sorry to bother you on the weekend, Mr. Curtis, but some people I know were interested in the vacant apartment."
Some people I know? You don't know me. Solf kept his expression neutral. He even managed a smile as Mr. Curtis looked past Andakar at them, sizing them up and ruminating on what he saw. A little smile twitched at the corner of his mouth when he took in Danika's earnest expression and he gave a little tilt of his head. "Okay. It's a little unorthodox, but if you brought 'em special, Andakar, we can at least have a chat."
Oh, he brought us special, did he?
Mr. Curtis stepped back, opening the door wider. "Come on in."
They followed Andakar into the office, which looked like it was actually an apartment. The room they stepped into had curved walls, being a tower.
Mr. Curtis gestured to a couple of leather sofas on either side of a dark wood coffee table. "Have a seat." He went over to the foot of a curved staircase and looked up. "Hey, Izumi!" he bellowed. "You got a minute?"
A female voice called down, "Just a sec, sweetie!" After a few moments, a slender woman, her dark dreads tied back from her face, came down the steps. She was about a third of the size of her husband. "Hello, Andakar! How are you today?"
"I'm fine, thank you, Mrs. Curtis," Andakar replied, stiffly courteous. He had declined to take a seat.
Mrs. Curtis gave a flick of her hand. "Loosen up, honey! It's Izumi and Sig." As she cast a polite but curious look at Solf and Danika, Sig spoke up. "I know this is kind of, you know"—he made quotes with his fingers—"not the way it's done, but I figured what the hell."
"Well, sure, dear," Izumi said easily, patting his hugely muscular arm. "Sometimes you just have to say what the hell. Besides, we can tweak the system if we feel it's in a good cause." She sat down on the couch and looked across at Solf and Danika. "So, welcome to Pleasaunce Apartments," she went on in a pleasant but crisply business-like tone. "As you probably know, we normally like to set up an interview first, but since Andakar brought you here—" She stopped and turned to the Ishvalan. "Are you, in fact, acting as a reference?"
Andakar hesitated, glancing at Solf, then Danika. "Well…yes, I suppose so."
Izumi gave him somewhat more intent look. "Are you sure? You're willing to put your name down on paper?"
With one more look at Solf, one that possibly held a message of either you so owe me or I really don't want to do this or perhaps both, he said, "Yes."
Solf was probably about as comfortable with this idea as Andakar was, but every time he thought he wanted to back out of this, Danika's increasing joy at the prospect kept pulling him in deeper. The girl could barely sit still.
Izumi turned her smile to Solf. "Well, then, how about some introductions?"
When Solf introduced himself by his full name, unless whoever he was talking to lived in a cave, they would recognize the name and be duly impressed. Not by anything he had done himself, admittedly. "I'm Solf Kimblee, and this is my daughter, Danika."
The Curtises certainly looked surprised, but they looked wary as well. Considering what a piece of misery his father was, that was understandable. But it didn't bode well.
The Curtises exchanged a look, then Izumi turned back to Solf. "Solf J. Kimblee? As in Kimblee Enterprises?"
Solf stirred a little uncomfortably at what sounded like an accusing tone. "I'm Solf Junior. I'm not actually connected to my father's businesses."
Izumi nodded. "Uh-huh." Her fingers tapped the arm of the couch. "Mr. Kimblee, were you aware that your father has been trying to buy this apartment building?"
"Uh…" He wasn't, so he said so. "No, I wasn't. I mean, I'm not surprised. He's into old buildings."
"The current owners are adamant about not selling, and we've heard that your father has gotten a little nasty about it," Sig rumbled.
Solf didn't know about that, but his father very often didn't tell him things. "Like I said, I'm not surprised." He glanced at Danika, who was starting to look a little uneasy. "Is this going to make a difference in our…um…eligibility?"
"If you don't mind me being quite candid," Izumi replied, "if I thought that this was some sort of plan that your father came up with, it would definitely have an impact on your eligibility."
Well. His father had cut him off but his poison was still leaking into his son's life. Solf sat back and put on his administrator face. "I can assure you that I am in no way involved in any sort of venture of my father's. As a matter of fact…" He hesitated. He really didn't want to be too free with his private woes or much else for that matter, sure as hell not in front of Andakar Ruhad. "My father and I are…currently not speaking. I'm definitely not going to help him buy this building." His father would probably kick him out.
The Curtises seemed to take him at his word and they relaxed. "All right, then," Izumi said with a nod. "Let me explain out process. We don't advertise vacancies here. We go strictly by personal recommendations. The owners have given us the responsibility to evaluate prospective tenants based not just on backgrounds and credit scores, which we'll be checking on, of course, but whether they will appreciate this place for its aesthetic and historic value. They went to some expense to have it renovated and restored to its original glory."
"I appreciate it!" Danika blurted out. "We've been looking at so many apartments this weekend, and none of them are as wonderful as this one!"
Solf wanted to tell Danika to tone it down a little, but Izumi beamed at the girl. "You are such a cutie! So how do you and your father know Andakar?"
"He's my math teacher!" Danika replied. "And my father is assistant principal at my school!"
"Oh, I see!" Izumi gave Andakar a playfully sly look. "So he's kind of your boss, then, huh?"
Solf tried not to grin with perverse satisfaction as Andakar was forced to admit that this was true. "One of them," he replied quietly.
"Well, then!" Izumi said briskly. "I'm fairly well satisfied. What about you, dear?" She looked up at her husband.
Sig gave a roll of his shoulders. "I think we can call it good." He turned to Solf. "You wanna take a look at the apartment before we talk paperwork?"
Solf almost gave a start. This was getting starting to get real. "Oh. Sure. I mean...is that it?"
Izumi stood up. "Well, pending the background checks, of course, you've got a recommendation from one of our own tenants, which goes a long way in your favor." She smiled. "And I think your daughter's as cute as a bug. So, like Sig said, I think we can call it good."
Danika scampered on ahead with the Curtises as they crossed the courtyard. There was no stopping that kid now. She did pause to turn and wave to Andakar. "Thank you so much, Zhaarad Ruhad!"
Andakar waved back then began to walk away. Solf would have been fine without exchanging another word with the guy, but he supposed there were certain conventions that had to be observed.
"Hey," he began. Andakar paused to look at him. "Uh…thanks."
The expression on the Ishvalan's face gave no illusion that they were in any way chill. "I did it for Danika."
"Tch!" Solf turned away. He should have saved himself the trouble. "No kidding?"
I based "Pleasance Apartments" on a place in Hollywood, CA, called El Cabrillo. I put up some pictures on my tumblr page (sons-of-the-desert-fma) if you'd like a visual.
