When I awoke the next morning, I had a cup of left over coffee, then headed to the park. I noticed an older man walking with a far overweight white dog. The two of them seemed to share something almost mystical. The dog looked up and even if the old man was looking in a different direction entirely, he still knew to throw the ball. The dog trotted over to retrieve it. If the dog had run he most likely would have had a heart attack. If he did I expect that the old man would try CPR on him. They just seemed to have that kind of bond.

After the walk I stopped by the firehouse for the keys to the tiny duplex. Harvey was sitting in the kitchen with a coffee cup in front of him, when I arrived. "I would offer you a cup Abba, but the guys have a rule."

"Hell everyone has a coffee rule these days. Mine is drink free coffee whenever I come across it. These days that is damn seldom.

"Yeah I know." He spoke as he searched his pockets for the key. "Here you go. Bring it back and we will talk about the property."

"Not a problem," I replied as I left the fire station kitchen.

The duplex was less than ten minutes from the fire station. I sat in front of the frame structure giving it a frank appraisal. The place was going to be really small inside I decided. I made that assumption based on the width of the house. It might have been a little over thirty feet wide. If so it would be very little.

I left the comfort of my car to walk around the house covered in faded asbestos siding. I wanted to get a feeling for the size as well as see the yard before I went inside. The yard was a mess as any neglected yard would be. I couldn't tell from the outside how long the bank had owned the house but it had been a while since anyone paid any real attention to it. contract yard crews cut the grass but not much more.

In the rear of the house I noted two small decks separated by about ten feet of grass. The decks were a pleasant surprise. The front of the house sported two concrete stoops but nothing else. The decks would be a good family type feature. I could grill out and even have company over for a cookout. I circled the entire house and found nothing except unkept grass and a few overgrown shrubs. At least the yard wasn't filled with beer cans, syringes, or used condoms.

I checked out both front stoops, and found them solid with no apparent problems. By that I mean there were no cracks in the concrete and they both seemed to be level. I went into the right unit first. The smell was pretty bad in there. It wasn't an animal feces smell at least. It mostly smelled of being closed up without air for months. I was pretty sure that it was the cause.

I entered into what had to be the smallest living room I had ever seen. It couldn't have been more than 8' by 12'. It would be possible to fit one sofa but most like no matching chair. I wooden rocker or some other small chair might make it inside the room without being a trip hazard, but even that would be questionable.

The carpet was dirty and stained. It was also a question mark. I might be able to find someone to clean it, but I didn't hold out a lot of hope. I removed the cop style spiral steno note pad from my packet and wrote 'carpet', Before I moved on I also wrote 'roof'. With the new roofing materials, it is impossible to tell the condition of the roof, without getting on it. I had no intention of doing that myself.

The living room had an overhead fixture and three wall plugs. That seemed like an adequate number, so I wrote nothing. I looked carefully at the walls. Other than the expected amount of wear and tear the drywall seemed in good condition. I simple wrote paint for the walls. I walked around the outer walls of the room. I was checking the floors and they seemed solid enough. I expected that they had long ago slipped out of level but I made no notes about that.

I entered the long narrow hall next, the first door led to a postage stamp sized bath. The tub would be great for a midget or child. Still it would be an adequately since it also had a shower head over the tub. The sink was a stand alone wall mounted version. It did not have a cabinet base. However there were shelves over the toilet and it did have a medicine cabinet.

There were ceramic tiles on the walls surrounding the tub. I didn't have much hope that it was in good shape but it did look serviceable. The floors seemed solid so I felt pretty good about that.

I checked out the very, very small bedroom beside the bath. It seemed to be about 8' wide and ten feet long. I also had a small closet. Storage was going to be an issue with the units.

The kitchen was a galley type thing. The rear wall of the house held the sink, some cabinets and the electric stove. I found a small hot water heater under one of the base cabines.The refrigerator was small but a bit larger than an apartments sized unit. The door mercifully had been propped open. The kitchen door opened onto the small deck.

I found the electrical fuse box on the exterior kitchen wall. It was complete with five circuits with fusetrons. The fuse box wasn't modern and the service was only 75 amps but it should do the trick as long as I stayed away from electric heat. Still I wrote electric and plumbing in the notebook.

The left unit was a mirror image of the first. The carpet looked a little better but still in need of some attention. Evereything else was about the same.