Arthur looked at me.
"For real?"
I handed him the bright white envelope. "See for yourself."
His smile faded as he realized he was actually addressing him and not his mother.
"That can't be good."
I looked from the letter in his face.
His eyebrows and mouth twitched at irregular intervals. His hands, too, began to tremble.
"Do you know what it is?" I put a hand on his left arm to calm him down.
He shook his head, turned the letter, and opened it. I took a step to the right so I could unobtrusively look at the paper.
Arthur was shaking so hard that I couldn't read what was written there. "Shall I hold him?"
Without an answer or a gesture, he handed the letter to me.
He was from the city. Arthur apparently only paid the last rent in half.
"If I don't transfer the balance in a week, they'll throw us out.", he said in shock.
He moved away from me, walked to the other end of the hall, and leaned against the wall.
I wanted to go after him, but I was deterred by a loud laugh.
Arthur tried to stifle it, coughing and writhing. He held his hand to his throat. Maybe he had the feeling that the laugh would tie him.
It went on for several minutes until he was just there.
Slowly he slid down the wall to the floor. He stayed there.
So I moved towards him and sat down to him, despite the dirty floor.
I put the letter in front of me.
"Why couldn't you pay the rent, are you all right?"
I wanted to help him, but I didn't know exactly how.
He raised his eyes and looked at me with tired eyes.
"My salary was cut last month because I didn't bring my costume back intact."
I had a big question mark written on my face.
"I work at the Ha Ha Club as a party clown and can be booked for a variety of things... Well ..."
He tilted his legs.
"I was beaten up, which happens more often, and that caused my costume a lot of damage, and my boss didn't believe me, so he cut my wages and thought I'd vandalized it."
I didn't know what to say.
"I'm so sorry, Arthur."
I didn't want him to be able to handle it alone, but I didn't want to impose myself on him.
I don't have to blame it, it's my own fault, the teenagers who made it laughed at me, and instead of just moving on, I started laughing ... I'm fine when something like that happens. "
I felt sorry for him.
"No, it doesn't, these people don't have the right to hurt you."
We sat for a few more minutes on the cold tiled floor, before we made our way back to the eighth floor.
"Thank you for going to the post with me.", was his goodbye, leaving me alone in the hallway.
He wanted to be alone and think about what he wanted to do now to avoid being fired.
I began to think, too.
I ignored the chaos in my kitchen and sat down on the couch with my last bank statements.
"Well, if I put down more for the new apartment next month, I can give Arthur the rest to pay his rent.", I thought aloud.
With my purse in hand, I ran out of the apartment again. I was convinced that I was doing the right thing, so I did not want to discuss it with anyone. After all, it was my money. Arthur was a good person and he didn't deserve to be treated like that by anyone.
My way led me to an ATM, not far away.
I quickly raised two hundred dollars.
I put the money in an envelope, wrote 'Arthur' on it in fairly decent script, and opened the front door. With light steps I walked to the apartment "8 J".
I just had to knock once.
"Arthur, I've been thinking... Here."
I put the envelope in his hands.
"What's that?" He asked, putting his cigarette in his mouth.
"Open it up."
I didn't expect him to smile again that day until he saw the money.
"I can't accept that."
He wanted to give it back to me.
"I insist, and do not worry about it, you don't have to pay it back, it's a gift. "
Were those tears in his eyes?
"Thank you, Lila, that will save us."
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