Fran sat on the toilet trying to get a tampon out when the doorbell rang.
'Shit!' she curses under her breath, 'Uh, WHO'S THERE?' She shouts from the toilet. She got the tampon out and jammed another one in hurriedly.
'It is me, Miss Francesca!' cried out a jolly, recognizable voice from the front door. She lived in a two room aparment with all her things crammed in it. If it was quiet enough even whispers could be heard from one end of the apartment to the other.
'David Chaffetz!' The man said, his voice high spirited and sharp.
'Oh, Mr. Chaffetz! Um I...I'll be right out!" Fran walked out of the toilet in a rush with only her underwear and a large baggie sweatshirt.
'Hello, Mr. Chaffetz! What a...pleasant surprise! Fran said, imitating her landlord's high spirits and forcing a smile wide across her face.
'No my dear, should not be a surprise at all. Can I come inside?' He says.
'Ye..yes, yes, sure, come on in,' Fran did not like the landlord. He was borderline perverted and said harshly passive agressive things in his demeaning high frequency voice. In her friends' words, David was fake.
David eyeballs around the room, examining the living condition. Fran felt a slight embarrassment inside. He took a seat on one side of the sofa, on the other side of which Fran had drawn a sunflower with acrylic paint.
'My dear, you must have received the memo?' He stared at Fran with a big smile with teeth, waiting for a response. Fran smiled back at him. They stared at each other, awkwardly smiling, for a horrifying few seconds.
'Uh...no. I- I must have missed it. I'm so sorry, oh my god, I'm so so so sorry. I don't know. What was it about. Did I do something?'. The smile was gone from Fran's face.
'Well, I did not want to be the first one to let you know his news...but...I am...uh....I'm selling all my buildings. I'll leave for Paris with my wife and children, and I cannot manage all these anymore. They're going to erect newer and better homes here. You know what that means dear.' He somehow managed to grin through delivering this brutal news.
'But, Mr. Chaffetz, I- Does everyone have to leave. There must be-'
'I'm afraid not, honey. You have a week.' David said, getting up from the sofa and making his way to the front door. 'Take care!'
As Fran watched David Chaffetz makes his way out of her front door, all traces of smiles vanished from her face.
