Misers

         On a steep hill, in a suburb of Boston, sits a beautiful condominium development. Two magnificent brick buildings. Looking at these buildings, in their current splendor, one would never suspect that they were once in very rough shape. Owned by a couple of misers that refused to spend a dime to improve them.

         The brothers, Ivan and Kane Vancowski, purchased the buildings from Rupert Stone. Rupert was a man down on his luck, no longer able to keep up the mortgage payments on the building he had owned, for the better part of twenty years. When the bank began foreclosure proceedings against him, Ivan and Kane came a-knocking at his door.

         The building, continually operated at a fifty-percent vacancy rate, leaving Rupert with little or no cash to make some much needed improvements. Rupert felt Ivan and Kane were his best shot at selling the building, so he reluctantly accepted their offer, twenty-five thousand in cash.

         Ivan and Kane quickly took out a new mortgage on the buildings for fifty-thousand and pocketed the proceeds. Soon Ivan realized that the building was costing more than it was making in rent. Ivan began scouting around for a fool to manage it and do his dirty work. He scrutinized the rent roll looking for just the right tenant; someone who had not yet paid their rent this month. One name jumped out at him from his list Julio Arula .

         Julio, menacing looking fellow, dark eyes, round face covered with the scars of many a street brawl, large build complete with extra broad shoulders and meaty arms. Ivan considered him the perfect candidate, recently unemployed. Ivan, armed with that knowledge, was ready to pounce, knowing Julio would be unable to meet this months rent. The one flaw in his plan, Ivan overlooked, Julio had spent ten years in prison, for brutally killing a man during a home invasion.
"Welcome to the jungle, Julio." Ivan muttered to himself as he dialed the phone.

"Hello?"

“Hi Julio, this is Ivan Vancowski, your landlord. Ivan let a pregnant pause penetrate, giving Julio just enough time to give him an excuse for not having the rent money.

“Yeah, Doc I know I am late paying the rent but I will have both...." Ivan interrupted Julio in mid-sentence, too excited to let the poor sap continue his groveling.

“Well Julio, I have the perfect solution to your problem. You see, I need a superintendent for the buildings, and since you are currently unemployed, you fit the bill.”

“Hey Doc, you mean I can work off the rent I owe?" Ivan chuckled. Other people’s stupidity always made him feel more powerful, in control.

“Not exactly Julio, what I am proposing, is that you pay me half of your normal monthly rent, and in exchange you take care of all matters that need attention there, leaky faucets, broken windows, painting. I need to get some units rented. ” Julio silent again for a moment, mulled the prospect over.

“Ok Doc. I guess that would be ahright. When you want me to start?“ Ivan could barley contain his excitement, already counting the money he would save on labor. Soon he could start renting the now vacant units.

”Tomorrow Julio, start Tomorrow. I will come by around 9:00 A.M. to give you a list of what needs to be done."

         The following morning, Julio took his list next door to his friend Kim Anders in apartment 5, and she read it aloud to him. Kim was plump for a twenty-four year old. She stood only 5'2 with a perfectly round face and flawless skin. Kim left her husband two years earlier. One evening, he got drunk and took a belt to their two-year old son. Kim went to a battered womans shelter with just a few items of clothing and her babies, all six of them. Julio had helped carry in the few boxes Kim had, on the day she moved to the building. Afraid her husband would find them, Kim asked Julio to keep an eye on things, in exchange Kim did Julio the occasional favor of reading his mail.

"Wow, Julio, How ya gonna git all this done in a day boy?" Kim asked, handing him back the list. “I guess I gonna start right now"

“Good Luck!", Kim breathed.

         Gathering all of the needed supplies from the janitor’s closet, Julio set about painting his first unit--#15. Even with the windows open, sweat poured off of him and the paint fumes began making him feel light-headed. By six, he had only finished one entire wall. Julio decided then to call it a day and headed back to his apartment for some much needed, dinner and rest.

          The next morning at nine on the dot the sound of the phone startled Julio from his slumber.

"Hello?" “Julio? Aren't you supposed to be painting by now? How much have you gotten done so far?" Julio stuttered as he answered. "Well Doc, It was bery hot yeterday, I sweat a lot, got dizzy too."

Ivan was getting impatient waiting for an answer. ”I did not ask how much you sweat Julio; I asked how many units are painted?"

“One wall, Doc." Julio started as he heard the sound of the receiver crash against the wall at the other end of the line.

"Please tell me you're joking Julio, you at least finished one apartment?" Julio drew in a breath.
“No sir, one wall"

"Well Julio, you have a ton of painting to get done, hop TO! I want four apartments finished by five today." Click.

         Julio set off to paint, determined to finish all four units, as Ivan had demanded. He finished unit 15, by noon and by two o'clock half of unit 16 was painted. With only three-hours left until his deadline expired, Julio rushed to beat the clock. Rushing caused his painting to be sloppy, large drips ran down every side of the wall. Julio paid this little mind and continued on. He had just finished the second unit and started on the third when a voice startled Julio causing him to jump, spilling paint onto the floor and himself.

“Is this what you call a paint job?”

         A large man loomed in the doorway scrutinizing Julio's haphazard paint job. Dressed in slacks and a button down shirt, the man appeared to be all business, his black hair neatly combed to one side and black shoes, in which Julio could see his own reflection. His neat style of dress gave him an air of authority despite deep facial scarring. It was clear, from the way he was frowning, he was not pleased with the quality of Julio’s work. Julio let the roller drop in its place and puffed up his chest, approaching the man.

“You no like the way I paint? Who are you?”

Julio, now so close to the man their noses were practically touching, forcing him to take a step back.

“I own half of this building, I am the one asking questions here. Who sir are you?”

He spoke with a lisp that Julio mistook for fear.

“Oh Doc, you the brother, hoho.” Julio chuckled aloud and the man’s face grew redder. “You can lock up and go home, I will have a chat with my brother about your paint job.”

“No!” Julio spat “I finish, then I go home, now I paint.”

The man glared at Julio. “I said...leave”

“You gonna make me?” Julio stepped forward again and the two men stood chest to chest.

“Go call you brother, we have a deal...Pato!” Julio's voice barely above a whisper, bordered threatening.

         The man removed a cell phone from his pocket, placing the call to Ivan. Julio crossed the room, picked up his roller and continued painting. After a few minutes the man hung up the phone and glared at Julio “Carry on” he barked.

         At five-forty-five on the dot, Julio was washing out his rollers and brush in the sink of the fourth unit. He had done it. All four units were complete. Julio headed back to his apartment proud of his accomplishment. As he turned the key in the lock, he heard the phone ringing. Pushing the door open he grabbed at the receiver, struggling to catch his breath.

“Hello?” “Hey Julio, Ivan.”

“Doc, I did it. I painted all four of them apartments by five o’clock.”

“Congratulations Julio, but I hear from my brother that the painting was very sloppy.”

Julio began to get defensive “What you want man, fast or clean?”

Ivan let out a deep sigh in disgust at having to explain himself, yet again.

“What I want is both, Julio. There is no need to be doing sloppy work.”

Exhausted, Julio quickly went from irritation to white-hot anger.

“Your brothers a Pato man, and you are a chump. You wanna know what you can do with your list …chump?”

“Ok Julio, relax a minute, I will give you one more chance, Tomorrow you go in and clean up your paint job, remove all of the paint splashes from the carpet, and I will allow you to continue with our agreement."

“ Forget it bendaho! Do it yourself! ” His voice again taking on that low threatening tone.

“Well Julio, in that case, your rent is late, I’m afraid I will have to evict you.”

Julio now sweating profusly, was getting angier by the second. Finally he screamed into the receiver:

“Evict me madicone! I’ll take your F***ing head off and feed it to my piranha!”

         In one swift blow, Julio slammed phone on the countertop shattering into tiny bits and pieces. Removing his pocketknife, he began ripping large holes into walls and cut the kitchen vinyl floor tiles to shreds. Finished in the kitchen he moved on to the bathroom, and with a hammer he began smashing up tiles, both on the wall and floor, until all that were left were tiny fragments.

         On Tuesday, Ivan had an appointment to show the apartments that Julio had finished painting. As he pulled into the parking lot, he noticed his brother’s Lexus parked in the lot, the door was slightly ajar. “Idiot!” he grumbled under his breath as he opened the door and gave it a quick slam.

         Ivan's Four prospects were waiting at the front entrance as Ivan approached, he paused, surveying each of them. A tall woman, early forties with long-dark hair, drawn up in a pony-tail. A young blond, maybe 22, short hair stood nervously figiting with her blouse. An Indian woman dressed in a burka, long black hair in a braid down to the middle of her spine and the fourth a pretty young portguese woman, tight jeans outlining an hourglass figure, perfect skin, pretty green eyes, gave Ivan a broad smile.

“Morning ladies, follow me.”

         Swinging open the large steel door and sauntering up the hall to the first unit, #15 Ivan noticed a foul odor, like rotting meat. He figured Julio had probably forgotten to remove the remains of his lunch after he had painted. Ivan failed to notice the light seeping out from under the door of unit #19 or the eye covering the peephole, watching him as he turned the key in the lock and threw open the door to unit 15. Turning around he addressed his prospects.

”Each unit is a two bedroom, rent is fourteen hundred and seventy five dollars a month, if you are interested I will need a—“

         Gasps and horrified looks caused Ivan to turn back and peer into the apartment, the door now open three-quarters of the way. Horror washed over him, Ivan pushed his way into the living room. The sight before him making him wretch. Splattered blood covered every inch of the fresh, white paint. Ivan's foot landed in the pool of black blood at his feet sending him sliding across the floor and crashing into the closet door. Kane’s lifeless body hung from the ceiling fan, upside down, eyes still open. Blood dripping, a continous drip, from the side of Kane's neck. The main artery had been punctured one-eighth of an inch.

         The prospects, lurching, gagging, ran toward the entrance, anxious to escape the horror before them. Howling loudly Ivan approached the spot where his brothers body hung. Once again, he slipped in the bloody pool, this time, unable to regain his balance. He slammed into he corner of the marble counter top full force, cracking his skull, his body made a sickening thud as it landed on the tiled floor.

The door of apartment 19 opened a crack, Julio could be heard laughing, the crazed laughter of a maniac....

Eight years later

         On October 14th in the year two thousand and twelve, Julio emerged from the Psychiatric ward of Bellevue hospital a wealthy man. Since Ivan and Kane had no heirs to inherit it, the property was put up for public auction. Kim, the only bidder at the sale, was able to buy the building for bargain price of one dollar. The city gave Kim a grant of twenty-thousand dollars to make the necessary repairs and bring the buildings up to city code. She put the money to good use installing an iron fence having the exterior power-washed. Kim sold the buildings just one year later for one and a half million dollars, to a developer who would convert the units into condominiums. Kim credited Julio for making the deal possible and split the money with him 50/50.

         After two weeks in the morgue and several newspaper ads, no one ever came forward to claim the Vancowski brothers for burial; Ivan and Kane were buried in humble plots in the state cemetery.