Time: 1200
Date: September 9,
Location: 1841 Via De Luna St.
Pensacola Beach, Pensacola, Florida
I looked from the street at the property that I had been hired to maintain. It wasn’t a bad site, and the cedar sided two story wouldn’t be hard to maintain externally with its metal roof. The only detractor I could see myself was that it was set up similar to an old row house which meant that the wet wall would likely be the centerline structural wall. The central air unit was sufficient for the buildings size and the exterior unit was heavily caged to prevent the theft of the copper inside it. Then there was the twenty Kw propane powered generator in its own small shed that would kick in when the power was inevitably knocked out by one storm or another. The shed actually was attached to the building and also protected the power meter as well as the 120-gallon propane tank and 4-inch water well.
The final deciding factor was that the building was listed as pet friendly which had been the final requirement for me to say yes to the job. Now don’t get me wrong, I love my family and the old homestead out in the woods would always be home, but after my mother’s death and with having to put down multiple animals in the months since my mother’s death due to their own age I just couldn’t stay there anymore. There were just too many personal ghosts to deal with, things I just couldn’t work through at this point in time.
So two dogs joined me in my own two bed one bath apartment that was the bottom center of the complex on the sound side. I wasn’t stupid and I had grown up in the area so I knew exactly what kind of storms could roll out of the Gulf of Mexico at practically any moment. Oh sure, hurricanes you usually had at least a few days, (I could predict usually a week ahead of most weathermen) warning that they were coming so that you could prepare or evacuate as needs dictated, but plain old gulf storms that blew up in a night or so could be damn near as nasty, and gale force winds were nothing to sneeze at. Thankfully parking for the apartments were on the landward side of the building so I could actually park my Fiat right outside my apartment.
Walking inside I spent a few minutes paying attention to my girls before heading through the apartment to finish unpacking. I still had to set up my personal electronics and library shelves as well as put my books in place before the new tenants arrived. I also needed to lock down my personal armory as well. Ok, I was a bit of a gun nut, as well as a collector and five years in the Marine Corps had only given that direction not quelled it, so it was that the center closet in the apartment, what would for most people be a coat closet was loaded with a gun safe that would be hell for anyone to try and crack. A seven-digit passcode as well as a thumb print scanner secured the door so that no hands other than my own could access the weapons within.
With the last book put away, the last wire connected and the lock secured on the safe I turned my attention to my future tenants. The final files on my charges were supposed to be being emailed to me, so I was now sitting in my office/library futzing around on my tablet while I waited. It wasn’t long before my email dinged with a message and attachment. Opening the e-mail, I read:
Mr. Bostwick;
Included as an attachment is a zip file containing the personal files on your tenants, please see to their care as they are in much need of a seaside vacation after what they have recently been through. Ms. Katsuragi will be in overall charge of the teens but is no fool and we are sure she will be willing to listen to local experts on how and where she might want to lead her charges. We hope that their stay is a pleasant and relaxing one and does not bring any hardships to them or you beyond your regular maintenance duties.
The signature was accurate as was the e-mail address so I figured the files were correct, but after I downloaded the zip file and expanded I started to wonder if someone wasn’t playing a joke on me. I mean really, the name Katsuragi was already pushing my suspension of disbelief, but add to that the names of the children and their pictures, I started to wonder. Thankfully there was also an itinerary showing that they would be arriving by shuttle bus on Monday the 19th, what a glorious birthday present for me.
Date: September 9,
Location: 1841 Via De Luna St.
Pensacola Beach, Pensacola, Florida
I looked from the street at the property that I had been hired to maintain. It wasn’t a bad site, and the cedar sided two story wouldn’t be hard to maintain externally with its metal roof. The only detractor I could see myself was that it was set up similar to an old row house which meant that the wet wall would likely be the centerline structural wall. The central air unit was sufficient for the buildings size and the exterior unit was heavily caged to prevent the theft of the copper inside it. Then there was the twenty Kw propane powered generator in its own small shed that would kick in when the power was inevitably knocked out by one storm or another. The shed actually was attached to the building and also protected the power meter as well as the 120-gallon propane tank and 4-inch water well.
The final deciding factor was that the building was listed as pet friendly which had been the final requirement for me to say yes to the job. Now don’t get me wrong, I love my family and the old homestead out in the woods would always be home, but after my mother’s death and with having to put down multiple animals in the months since my mother’s death due to their own age I just couldn’t stay there anymore. There were just too many personal ghosts to deal with, things I just couldn’t work through at this point in time.
So two dogs joined me in my own two bed one bath apartment that was the bottom center of the complex on the sound side. I wasn’t stupid and I had grown up in the area so I knew exactly what kind of storms could roll out of the Gulf of Mexico at practically any moment. Oh sure, hurricanes you usually had at least a few days, (I could predict usually a week ahead of most weathermen) warning that they were coming so that you could prepare or evacuate as needs dictated, but plain old gulf storms that blew up in a night or so could be damn near as nasty, and gale force winds were nothing to sneeze at. Thankfully parking for the apartments were on the landward side of the building so I could actually park my Fiat right outside my apartment.
Walking inside I spent a few minutes paying attention to my girls before heading through the apartment to finish unpacking. I still had to set up my personal electronics and library shelves as well as put my books in place before the new tenants arrived. I also needed to lock down my personal armory as well. Ok, I was a bit of a gun nut, as well as a collector and five years in the Marine Corps had only given that direction not quelled it, so it was that the center closet in the apartment, what would for most people be a coat closet was loaded with a gun safe that would be hell for anyone to try and crack. A seven-digit passcode as well as a thumb print scanner secured the door so that no hands other than my own could access the weapons within.
With the last book put away, the last wire connected and the lock secured on the safe I turned my attention to my future tenants. The final files on my charges were supposed to be being emailed to me, so I was now sitting in my office/library futzing around on my tablet while I waited. It wasn’t long before my email dinged with a message and attachment. Opening the e-mail, I read:
Mr. Bostwick;
Included as an attachment is a zip file containing the personal files on your tenants, please see to their care as they are in much need of a seaside vacation after what they have recently been through. Ms. Katsuragi will be in overall charge of the teens but is no fool and we are sure she will be willing to listen to local experts on how and where she might want to lead her charges. We hope that their stay is a pleasant and relaxing one and does not bring any hardships to them or you beyond your regular maintenance duties.
The signature was accurate as was the e-mail address so I figured the files were correct, but after I downloaded the zip file and expanded I started to wonder if someone wasn’t playing a joke on me. I mean really, the name Katsuragi was already pushing my suspension of disbelief, but add to that the names of the children and their pictures, I started to wonder. Thankfully there was also an itinerary showing that they would be arriving by shuttle bus on Monday the 19th, what a glorious birthday present for me.