Khan walked with a new spring in his step.  Yesterday he had gone from being on the verge of homelessness to owning an apartment building.  After getting the package he had gone down to  Mr. Griggs old unit, 101, on the ground floor.  It was much the same as when he’d last seen it, as if Mr. Griggs had just stepped out.  The furniture was faded but could be described as vintage as opposed to shabby.  Khan bagged up the old man’s clothing and dusty tchotchkes before bringing down his own personal items.  Khan flipped the mattress over and put on fresh sheets.  He kept going till midnight, at which point, being saturated and satiated with emotion and sensation, he went to bed and slept the sleep of the saved and thankful. 

The following morning was the first of the month.  Khan had already taken on most of the duties around The Rosario, but collecting the rents was the one thing Mr. Griggs had done personally till the end.  Khan felt a hint of shame at his excitement to do it himself today, but not much.

There weren’t many rents to collect; it was a small building.  The third floor had three studio apartments.  Khan had occupied 301 till yesterday.  302 had been occupied by a college student until June.  Towards the end Mr. Griggs hadn’t been very proactive about keeping the units filled.  Khan had already posted a vacancy ad.  303 hadn’t been occupied as long as Khan had been there, as it had been turned into storage.  Mr. Griggs had said it was for the building, but was more like his personal storage locker.  Khan planned to clear it out to get it occupied as well.

The second floor had two one bedroom apartments that both had single occupants. The first floor also had two one bedroom apartments, one of which had been occupied by Mr. Griggs and now Khan.

Khan decided to start with apartment 201, mostly because he would enjoy taking money from its tenant the most.  In 201 was John, who was the kind of guy to stand at his window and have loud conversations with people outside.  Khan was fairly sure John was responsible for the smashed beer bottles he frequently cleaned up outside the building.  When Khan went to 201, to ask for the rent, he got a prompt response.

“No.”

Khan stuck out his foot to block the closing door.  “What do you mean, no?”

“I mean I’m not paying rent.  I know you haven’t paid rent in years so why should I have to?”  John explained.

“I have worked for my rent.” Khan shot back.  John looked unimpressed.  “And I wasn’t really asking.  If you pay, you stay.  If you don’t, you won’t.”

John gave a little chuckle.  “I don’t have to pay shit.  Mr. Griggs is dead.  This building is as much mine as it is yours.”

Khan squinted.  “No… Mr. Griggs had a will.  The building is mine.  If you want to stay here, you have to pay rent.”

“Bullshit.  Get out of my doorway or I’ll call the cops.”

Now it was Khan’s turn to laugh.  “Go ahead.  It won’t end well for you.”

John increased pressure on the door.  Khan moved his foot away to let the door close.  He wasn’t going to get in a fist fight on his first day.  He would deal with John later.

Khan decided to move on to 202 for the time being.  Occupant Ms. Flannery was a bit annoying, but she was unlikely to put up an argument about the rent.  Ms. Flannery seemed to think he was her personal butler rather than the building’s caretaker.  She would almost certainly have some chore for Khan to do, he would put up with it as long as she had the rent.

Khan knocked on the door several times, Ms. Flannery didn’t answer.  This was odd, Ms. Flannery was even older than Mr. Griggs was and almost never went out.  Come to think of it, she hadn’t had any chores for Khan in the last couple of days.

It will be of surprise to few readers then that when Khan let himself into apartment 202 he came to find Ms. Flannery had gone the way of all flesh.  Khan had to call the authorities then.  It had a depressing familiarity to it, he had done the same for Mr. Griggs.  He hadn’t known a next of kin for either of them, something the police seemed to view with suspicion.

After that he took a break, got some lunch and steeled himself to go to apartment 102.  This was one he was looking forward to, because it was occupied by Mila.  Mila was an exchange student from Ukraine and was in the same class as Khan at Eberhard Anheuser High School.  Mila was a striking beauty.  She was petite, with striking grey eyes and hair that looked blonde or brown or even red depending on the light she was in.  Even though they went to school together and lived in the same building, Khan hadn't been able to interact with her much.  Well now he finally had a reason to talk to her.  Granted It wasn’t a reason that was likely to win her over, but he had to start somewhere.

*

“I do not pay to rent.” 

Khan winced at her response.  “No, see Mila, Mr. Griggs left the building to me.  I’m the one who will be collecting the rent from now on.”

“I know.” Mila responded.  “Mr. Griggs told me you were like a son with him.  He told me you would get The Rosario after he died.”  This surprised Khan.  He hadn’t had a clue that The Rosario would go to him.

“Ok, so you know that you need to pay rent to me, right?”

“But Mr. Griggs did not make me pay to rent.” Mila explained.  “He said you would not make me pay to rent either because of… just judges?”

Khan’s mouth went slack.  What was going on in this building?  He knew Mila hadn’t been working for her rent, it wasn’t like The Rosario needed two caretakers.  “Look Mila.  I don’t know what kind of arrangement you had with Mr. Griggs, but I need to collect rent.  The building was left to me, but really the bank owns more of it than I do.  The third floor is completely empty.  I might have to evict John.  Ms. Flannery is dead…”

“Oh no!  Poor Ms. Flannery.” Mila exclaimed.

Khan cringed.  He realized he had just listed a woman’s death as an inconvenience for him as a property owner.  This wasn’t going well. Mila looked like she might cry.  “Yes, it’s sad.” Khan responded with a sigh.  “Look, we’ll talk more about this tomorrow, but understand that some things will have to change around here.”