Hindsight is 20/20
They stole my house!
You read right. Here's how it went…
I had just returned to Charlotte after burying my Mom and Dad. Dad was a frugal soul and had been able to leave his seven offspring a nice chunk of change each. He was not wealthy, but much better than not too much. This was a boon to my plans…or so I thought. They would be so happy…or so I thought.
First, I was scammed out of $1,000 that I thought was a deposit, but it went to someone who was not the landlord. I found the rental agency and arranged to pay ten months of rent ahead—the only way I could get the duplex with credit that dwells in the basement. So I signed the lease.
I should have prayed.
I had a dog and two bedrooms and living, dining, and kitchen…all to myself. It was the end of the inheritance that I was so generously left.
My dog was a puppy and a little rambunctious. To be honest, a lot rambunctious. Sugar wasn't as sweet as her name, and she caused some damage when I left her alone. I thought it would be great if someone could help to look after her.
A couple days after this, I was at the gas station in the rain and feeling fortunate to have a place to live. As I came out, I noticed a young woman with a two-year-old toddler in her arms. She looked lost and forlorn. I approached her and asked about her story. Her husband was in jail. She left where she was living and said that the abusive man who rented her a room had been trying to get her to leave. She was a recovering heroin addict and was getting Suboxone from the clinic.
Call it empathy, compassion, or just a willingness to do what I thought was right, but I invited her and her son to come stay with me. It turned out that her husband was getting out of jail the next day. He also moved in. It didn't start out so great and became progressively worse. They needed to get to the clinic by eight each morning. They had no money, no real jobs, no plans.
It turned out that she danced at strip clubs. I reluctantly dropped her off when she would have a shift. I was a patsy. I was being taken advantage of…but it got worse.
The husband brought a friend. They were going to smoke some crack. Was it all right with me? Heck, no! But they did it anyway, and I was stuck. They became obnoxious and unfriendly. I decided to evict them because they refused to leave on their own. I had trouble finding out how to evict them legally. So time went on, and I was miserable with the situation. When a visitor showed up at midnight, I decided that I had had enough.
I left the next day and had the electricity and water shut off. Finally, the eviction notice was given and was to take effect in one month. They stayed. I went to stay with a friend. The dog was sent to a farm. I was broke and broken.
They moved another couple in. With no power and water, they stayed. As it turned out, they stole electricity from the next door neighbor by cutting a hole in the wall. In the meantime, they sold or destroyed most of what I had left behind. They were finally evicted, and I had a damage bill to pay.
There’s nothing left…except this story.