Chapter 218 - Roommates (1/2)

As Laz pulled up to a dilapidated one story building, he couldn't help but frown a bit at the sight. It wasn't as though the building was in bad shape... more like it was just a bit run down. The blue siding looked old and faded while the white paint on the patio was peeling. The wooden front door looked new and reinforced, but Laz got the sneaking suspicion that the only reason it was like that was because something happened to the last door. You don't replace just the front door unless you have to. Laz was following some instructions and brought his bike down the shared drive way that was barely wide enough for a compact car. As he got behind the place, he view of it changed a bit.

The drive way went back pretty far, past a tall wooden fence that was impossible to see though on either side. Using his spiritual sense, Laz could tell that there was a rather nice garden area behind where the apartment was.

Since Laz was already checking, he took a look at some of the other places around him and noticed that they all had large garden areas, many of them more elaborate than the place he would be staying at. As Laz got to the end of the fence, he finally found some open space. In fact, it looked like all of the gardens ran up to a one lane road where there was enough room for a car to park on both sides and still allow a decent size pickup to come through. Taking a closer look, he also noticed that this was where trash was kept for pick up as well.

Laz found a free spot behind the garden and then made sure the coast was clear. After that, he grabbed out a decent sized tarp and dr.a.p.ed it over an old bicycle that he pulled out of his pouch before moving the motor cycle into the pouch. There was no way in hell he was going to leave it on the street, but he had to make sure he had something back here as a fall back to answer questions later. Some people were way too observant. He finished his preparations by taking out a decent sized backpack and slinging it over his shoulder. There wasn't anything in it really minus a few changes of clothes for cover, but showing up to a place to live without luggage would look very wrong.

Seeing that everything was set, Laz made his way back to the front of the apartment house. There was a door in the fence, but it was locked up and Laz didn't have a key. As Laz got to the front, he noticed that the house was actually divided into two sides with two separate doors. It looks like someone had taken the house and cut it in half. He quickly pulled out a piece of paper from his jeans pocket and doubled checked the address he had been given while making double sure the numbers matched. Nothing more embarrassing than knocking on the wrong door.

Just as Laz got done knocking, he heard a scream from inside followed by some heavy foot steps and the door slammed opened. A large man with a beard opened the door and looked down on the noticeably shorter Laz.

”Who are you?” The man asked with a frown.

”UH... I'm suppose to live here?” Laz said, not understanding what was happening.

”Oh? Which one are you?”

”Uh... Lazlo. But you can call me Laz.”

”AH Laz. Got it. You're on the list. Come on in. My name is Benjamin, but you can call me Benny.” The man with the beard seemed to lose his rough nature and was now smiling while holding the door open.

”Oh. Uh Thanks.”

”Ha ha. No problem. Guess the temp agency didn't tell you anything either right?”

”Yeah... No. No they did not.”

”Well. It's not so bad. I live locally so I was here first. Edward over there, or Eddy as we are calling him, came in a few hours before you. And we are just waiting for one other guest. Looks like we are all going to be roomies for the next several weeks.”

”Roomies?”

”Yeah. We all took up jobs and are being housed here. There are other places around town that I saw are being used for the same thing. Not sure how they was able to get so many places to house us people, but it doesn't matter I guess. This one is far from the nicest of the donated spots, but the one plus is that it's one of the closest to the French Quarter which is where we will be working. So at least we don't have to worry about getting there or catching a bus.”