The Perfect House

Chapter 4: they're in, but . . .

They wanted to get it right. Irene worked with Florian: on his hair, make-up, clothes, manner of speaking, gestures, etc. Given the short time frame, they made great progress.

The four boys all practised together, even rehearsing what they would do when they went to present themselves to the property manager.

On the day, Irene took an hour off work to help Florian turn into the girl, Florina - that was the obvious and safest name for him to adopt. As they were preparing to leave, the other three boys began to enthuse, saying things like:

"Flor, you look fabulous."

"Terrific, a real girl."

"Thanks to you, Flor, we're going to kill this."

And they did. Mrs Castell was completely satisfied. Of course, Harold did most of the talking, taking the pressure off the new Florina. They would all have to come back on the following Saturday morning to sign the lease documents.

Florina found the second encounter quite easy, he/she was more relaxed. They signed the contracts and got the keys. They would move in straight away. Lectures didn't start for another three weeks, but it would give them time to settle in, become more familiar with the uni grounds, layout, library, etc and do some preliminary reading.

They were all feeling quite excited, they had pulled it off, and it should be plain sailing from here.

Wrong.

As they were leaving after signing the lease, Mrs Castell remarked, "Oh, I should mention that the sister of one of the owners lives nearby. Mrs Stein is her name, a lovely lady, a very keen gardener. She lives across the street, two houses down. I know she keeps an eye on the place for her sister, but I'm sure that you will give her no cause for concern. I thought I would just let you know anyway because she will probably say hello to you."

Preston was the first to react, grabbing a startled and stiff Florina by the hand and dragging her towards the car, "Come on, babe, let's get our gear organised."

In the car, Harold's SUV this time.

Florina, shaking her head, looking at the others desperately, "What does that mean? Is that sister going to be watching us, spying on us? Shit, Harold, did you know about this?"

"No, I knew nothing of it," he replied in a tight voice, "Mrs Castell has made no reference to it until just now."

"Let's not get into a panic," Preston put in, "let's just calm down."

"Yeah, it might not be a big deal," Bobba added.

"Maybe not for you guys, but for me, it's a . . ."

"Flor, we're all in this together, man, and we'll work together to deal with it."

"How?"