The Great Apartment Hunt

    The Great Apartment Hunt

Suzanne Marsh

“Martha now that the kids are grown, isn’t it time we moved to an apartment. We won’t

have to worry about keeping up the house. Painting and gardening. Wouldn’t that be

great?”

Martha fixed George with the Chinese Look that she would get when she was angry. She was not having this conversation and that was the end of it.

“George I don’t want to downsize, I don’t want to move to an apartment.”

“Hey Martha here is one that might be of interest. Look at the great pool!”

“What part of I don’t want to move don’t you understand George?”

“Martha listen to me; we have to downsize, we can’t take care of this big old house.”

“I can still go up and down the stairs George we could move to the big room in back

of the house then you wouldn’t have to climb the stairs.”

“No, Martha we are going to move.”

Martha threw up her hands in exasperation. She loved this old Victorian house with all of its nooks and carnies. She could still see George carrying her over the threshold. No there were to many memories here and she did not see how she ever could. She strode into the living room that had been historically redone several years ago. She loved the antiques in there. Once again Martha began to cry.

George came into the living room and saw his Martha crying:

“Martha, you know we can’t take care of the house any longer. I found several nice apartments

that I want you to see. They are in the suburbs and are great.”

“George your idea of great and my idea of great are two very different things.”

“I know the upkeep on this house is getting out of hand. We are not young any longer.

I will go look at these apartments but I am making no promises.”

George smiled at Martha; he felt badly that she could not have her way but between the stairs, the bathtub it was to hard on both of them. He rattle around the house looking for something: ‘now where did I leave the car keys? I did not hang them up where they belong evident ally. Maybe I left them on the kitchen table.’ He looked in the kitchen the keys were not there. ‘hmm where else have I been this morning? Think, George think.’ Then it occurred to him where the keys were, the last place he had been the bathroom. Sure enough he walked into the bathroom downstairs and there they were on the counter.

George called several of the apartments asking about the availability of ground floor or first floor plans. The Garden apartments had several. The Magnolia apartments had two and the Matrix had six. George felt like a new man with a new lease on life; all he had to do was convince Martha of the same thing. The computer had given him a virtual tour; Martha hated the computer and refused to use it. Showing a virtual view would be as waste of time. He made the appointments for the following day.

The first apartment house was the Gardens it matched the name there were several lovely gardens planted throughout the complex. Martha thought them lovely; George was hopeful. They walked hand in hand into the office. The manager, a sweet little white haired gentleman with blue eyes, a whiskered face and a smile.

“Hello, you must George and Martha Taft. My name is Matthew, it is my pleasure to show you

our apartment. We will take the cart since the apartment is on the other side of the complex.”

“How big is the complex?”

“Five acres, you can’t walk all of it. It is tiring.”

George was satisfied with the answer; Martha, who was shrewd by nature, ventured:

“Will we have to purchase a cart if we choose to live here?”

“No mam; your car has a spot right in front of your apartment.”

“I see.”

George could see calamity written in her words. She hated this place already. Matt pulled up to the front of building 25.

“This way folks, this is our model.”

George and Martha walked into the small foyer. Martha walked in looking for the kitchen. It was a galley type kitchen barely big enough for one person to be in there at a time. “This kitchen is way to small! I need a large kitchen.” George knew then this was not the right place for them. Matt continued with his tour:

“This is the living room.”

“I have seen broom closets that are bigger than this.”

“Now Martha is that any way to be.”

“George this apartment is way to small of us. I don’t like it and I won’t live in it. Matt

take us back to our car.”

Matt was truthfully glad to see them leave. Martha, was not about to budge for this apartment. He smiled at the Martha as they left.

The next apartment complex on George’s list was The Magnolias. The office for the Magnolias two doors down from the apartment that was being shown. Martha thought the Magnolia trees were lovely, since it was early June the fragrance was so sweet. Martha thought she should be a little bit more opened minded about the Magnolias. A petite white hair woman welcomed them. She was ready to show the apartment. They walked down two doors; she opened the apartment door. George and Martha walked in. The ceiling were ten feet high, the rug was a grungy green, and worse of all the kitchen was huge. The refrigerator, stove and dishwasher were standard white. The woman cleared her throat:

“The bed room is off of the living room. If you two will follow me I will begin the tour.”

“George the ceilings are way to high. The kitchen is the right size.”

She smiled at her and hoped this bedrooms were good size, they would never be able to fit the waterbed in a small bedroom.

Martha took one look at the master bedroom:

“This is way to small for our bed it would be to claustrophobic for me. I don’t think this is

for us.”

George for once agreed with her, well at least where the bedroom was concerned, the room was way to small.

The last retirement apartment complex in their area was the Matrix. Martha did not like the sound of the word Matrix but that was Martha. They arrived at their appointed time. A young man of thirty welcomed them as they walked into a lovely glass enclosed foyer with a huge crystal chandelier. Martha’s eyes nearly popped out of her head. The young man whose name was Brandon escorted them through the complex the apartment model was only a few doors down from the office.

Brandon opened the front door that revealed a lovely tiled foyer. They walked into the living room area it was certainly large enough to accommodate the Victorian antiques. The kitchen was large, with brand new stainless steel stove, refrigerator and dishwasher. It also had plenty of cupboard space. There was a built in hutch for good dishes. Martha was in love. Next they went to the master bedroom where the room was large and very accommodating to their king size waterbed.

Martha pulled George to the side:

“This is the nicest apartment I have ever seen; once the house is sold we can move here.”

George just stood there with a foolish grin on his face. Brandon had a lease with him, they signed. Downsizing and moving into a luxury apartment was the start of a new and happy phase of their lives together.