The bank took over a week to get it's act together. When they finally did, it was on a Tuesday. They wanted to set all the paperwork up for that same Friday. I refused to go along. Yes it was pure perversity but I wanted another week. Mostly it was to inconvenience them, but I did use the time to get Shorty my Contractor up to speed. Also to give him time to clean up anything he had going..

He took the list from the inspector and my notes. He rode by the house during that ten day period. He took the time to stop by and we discussed everything on the list. We came to an agreement which we both signed. It was no more than a list of things he agreed to do and a price I agreed to pay. There was also a notation the he agreed to perform his duty in a accepted manner. Accepted meaning if we had a disagreement city code would be the deciding factor.

The list of immediate repairs and a couple of cosmetic fixes were going to run me just over a thousand dollars. The biggest cost was shoring up the foundation. But replacing the rotted wood was right up there as well. The storm windows were a pretty good expense as well. Most of the other items I was either putting off or they were penny anti things. The ground fault circuit breakers for instance weren't very expensive at all.

I should be able to inhabit the best unit shortly after signing, If I wanted. Since I could move anytime, I called the landlord and gave him the heads up. I also told him that I could move anytime between the closing and three weeks after. If he found a tenant who needed to move right away, I could vacate early. Neither of us expected that he would, which was fine as well.

I spent the time with my new routine of walks, naps, TV, and time on the computer doing one thing or another. I did finally get around to informing my brothers and sisters of the heart attack. None of us shared much about our personal lives. Not that we were secretive, we all just seemed to not want to bother anyone with our problems. It wasn't the best way to live I suppose, but it seemed to work for us.

The closing came and went without incident. Then the repairs got done somehow even though it wasn't without incident. Shorty was one day from finishing when he suggested, "Detective Abba, why not let me paint the exterior of the house. I am leaving a lot of raw wood and you probably shouldn't be climbing ladders right now."

"You have a point, so how much to pressure wash the body of the house and then do the trim painting?"

"How about five hundred dollars?"

I knew damn well I wouldn't have done it for that. "I'm sure it's worth it, but for that kind of money I probably should get a bid or two."

"How about four hundred for two coats would that make you feel better?"

" If you scrape and sand good, it would yes."

"Done," he replied.

While shorty finished the exterior, I painted one side of the duplex. There wasn't all that much to do. I did have to have the carpet cleaned by a professional. He went over it twice to get it clean but in the end it did look almost as good as new.

My next problem was a surplus of furniture. The house had been much larger than the duplex. I had also taken furniture from the family home at the time of the divorce. I had taken more than enough for the rental house, and that was twice what I needed for the duplex.

I quickly realized that if I put my bed in the tiny bedroom there would be no room for me to do anything but sleep in the room. That was out of the question. Also i had a small sofa and love seat in the rental house. I could use either, but not both in the duplex.

The solution seemed to be to rush and finish the second unit. I had not planned to finish it at all, but I had furniture, which I didn't want to throw out or sell in a yard sale. I was sick of painting after my unit, so I called on Shorty again.He stopped working on the outside long enough to throw a coat of paint on the three rooms. It took him two days. The soft white paint made the place look much better.

I refused to put new carpet in the second unit, so the carpet cleaner returned. He did an adequate job, but told me the whole time not to expect too much. He was right instead of filthy old carpet, I had a living room full of clean old carpet.

The movers were a couple of guys I knew from the hood with a big truck. We had a hell of a time getting all the furniture in place. I put the bed, the sofa, one of the end tables, and one lamp in the second unit. I put the desk in my bedroom of the unit I planned to occupy. The second end table and lamp along with the love seat went into my side as well. The TV unit went into the living room. I put a bookcase in the bedroom as well. I had the dresser from the bedroom suite in my room, but the chest of drawers went to the second unit. My dining room table was too big for either of the units but I did put four of the chairs on my side and two on the other. I put pictures on the walls of both units from those in the rental house.

I boxed up just about everything else for one quick yard sale. I also had a thrift store on standby to pickup the unsold items. I had no place to store them, so someone might as well get some use of them.

All the furniture was well worn, but it was clean and usable. So I ended up with a furnished duplex apartment. I slept the first couple of nights in the rental unit, since it had the bed. After a couple of days I found a comfortable small bed. It was more a day bed type thing but it fit in the space and it was plenty big for me.